YDA to protest demolition of Lady Willingdon Hospital

YDA says it would challenge the government’s “illegal decision” in the Lahore High Court.

LAHORE:

The Young Doctors Association has requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the government’s “illegal decision” to demolish Lady Willingdon Hospital and construct a park in its stead.

The YDA said it would challenge the government’s “illegal decision” in the Lahore High Court.

The YDA released a statement on Sunday saying the decision to build a park in place of the hospital was extreme injustice for patients. “Lahore is a city of more than 10 million and is already short of hospitals. The 83-year old Gynae Hospital is part of our heritage and provides treatment to millions of poor women each year. The 250-bed hospital, built in 1930 by the British, is the biggest Gynae Hospital in the city. As many as 70 babies are delivered and 30 C-sections are carried out on average daily,” the statement read.

Three-day polio campaign

A three-day anti-polio campaign will kick off throughout the province on Monday (today).

The Health Department spokesperson said 17 million children under the age of five will be administered polio drops in the campaign. He said 39,000 polio workers teams had been constituted in this regard. “Around 80,000 workers will participate in the campaign...we are trying to ensure 100 per cent coverage in this campaign,” he said.  A follow-up campaign will also be launched on January 23.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UNICEF have been monitoring the anti-polio campaigns in the province.

“The Independent Monitoring Board for Polio Eradication will meet this month to discuss the polio situation.

Several important decisions will be taken in this meeting. Pakistan has witnessed a 40 per cent increase in the number of polio cases - 85 polio cases in 2013,” a WHO official told The Express Tribune.

“The health authorities need to meet their targets instead of making presentations and showing us paper work. We will not tolerate it if Pakistan exports polio to countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2014.