LRH offers futuristic facilities to patients

It is well known across the country because of the best health services being provided

PESHAWAR: Since the beginning of Covid-19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa earlier this year in February, the Lady Reading Hospital that dates back to the colonial era in Peshawar has been entertaining an influx of coronavirus patients from the mountainous Chitral district to DI Khan in South.

The hospital was named after the wife of British Viceroy Lord Reading in 1927.

It is pertinent to mention that Lady Reading, the wife of Viceroy Reading was very fond of Peshawar city and admired its view from the historic fort known as ‘Qila Balahisar’.

Once during a visit to Peshawar, she fell from a horse and suffered injuries while taking a round of the city. Consequently, she was taken to Agerton hospital for treatment but due to a lack of medical facilities she was shifted to Royal Military Hospital which is now commonly known as Combined Military Hospital.

After few years in 1927, she visited Peshawar again, expressing her desire to upgrade Agerton Hospital and donated Rs52000. It was later renamed as Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).

LRH is well known across the province as well as the country because of the best health services being provided to patients by expert doctors in many specialities including the fatal coronavirus nowadays.

The hospital came under enormous pressure during the last three months because coronavirus patients sought early diagnoses and treatment, but its computerized healthcare system, treatment and medical facilities remained unmatched during the pandemic.

As a result, many of coronavirus patients returned home upon full recovery from the disease due to unprecedented services of its doctors and other health professionals during the prevailing crisis.

It is pertinent to note that KP's premier hospital remained a center of hope for thousands of patients during every kind of crisis. Whether it was the 2005 earthquake or the war against terror, LRH has never disappointed the masses.

Patients from all 35 districts of K-P including seven merged tribal districts and even from Afghanistan are utilising its services due to significant improvement in its healthcare system, strengthening of infrastructure apart from medical, diagnostic and surgical services.

The government of PTI has spent billions of rupees on the health care system of K-P besides upgradation of medical facilities, including construction of new wards, upgradation of testing labs, installation of modern health machinery, introduction of computerised health care system at LRH.

"In every crisis, there was an opportunity. Today, we can build on what PTI's work of the last few years, & take KP's healthcare system to the next level," said K-P Health Minister Taimur Salim Jhagra.

A Covid-19 test laboratory was also being established in hospitals where a high dependency unit and two ICUs for critical patients of the virus, have been already established.

A telemedicine service has also been launched at the hospital where suspected coronavirus patients were being provided free consultation services by specialist doctors.

After coming to power in 2013, the PTI Government accorded top priority to revamping the outdated healthcare system by introducing scores of reforms and projects in hospitals to provide quality and affordable health services to all.

For the first time in the history of the province, full autonomy with complete authority in promotions, recruitments, equipment and accountability for physicians was ensured.

Recruitments and promotions in all cadres were decided on merit by physicians themselves based on new regulations contrary to the past practice of an aged based promotion and length of service with no regard to merit and transparency.

Prior to 2013, there was no autonomy and all recruitments, promotions, equipment and uplift programmes were decided by non-expert bureaucrats and politicians, official sources in the Health Department said.

The incumbent government has introduced bylaws under which working hours in public sector hospitals including LRH were aligned with modern practice that improved health delivery system and efficiency of the staff manifold.

During past regimes, medical professionals including paramedics and nurses were forced to perform long hour duties without financial incentives while doctors were allowed to serve only for five hours which created a sense of deprivation among junior doctors, nurses, paramedics and thus its overall health delivery system had been badly affected.

To break the nexus of doctors and commission agents in pharmaceutical, medicines, laboratory, surgical companies, the PTI government has institutionalized private practice (IPP) within public sector hospitals including LRH where private patients are being treated by senior consultants on affordable fee as compared to Dabgari Gardens, a hub of private medical practitioners and laboratories which was a source of minting money from poor patients inthe name of quality treatment.

As LRH has set a unique example for medical teaching institutions (MTI) in KP, the PTI Government has strengthened its medical faculty by recruiting 150 physicians on merit in one year, which is more than all recruitments in previous 15 years to cope with the massive challenge of Covid-19. Similarly, 800 new nurses were recruited, raising its current strength to 1,050.

Medical equipment worth billions of rupees was purchased for LRH during the last four years and hospital services were computerised.

The 300- bed building remained pending since 2011 at LRH due to lackluster approach of past governments and their non-completion exerted extra load on other departments due to the pandemic.

Accepting the challenge, PTI Government has operationalised a brand new 400 bedded building by equipping it with latest equipment worth Rs2.26 billion, 24 state-of-the-art operating suites, intensive care units and developed other new programmes including biometric services.

The first modern accident and emergency department in K-P has been set up with the recruitment of four British trained emergency physicians.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2020.