Infrastructure: ‘Connect Mayo and Lady Aitchison Hospitals via bridge’

LAHORE:

The Young Doctors’ Association has proposed that an underpass or an overhead bridge be constructed to connect Lady Aitchison Hospital to Mayo Hospital to facilitate patients.

In a letter to the chief secretary, YDA said Lady Aitchison Hospital catered to thousands of gynecology and obstetrics patients. It said newborns in critical condition had to be moved to the Mayo Hospital Pediatrics Nursery.

“Lady Aitchison Hospital, affiliated with King Edward Medical University, is a 200-bed hospital. Many babies who are in critical conditions have to be taken to Mayo Hospital because there aren’t any proper arrangements for their care at Lady Aitchison. The patients are taken via ambulances which have to go from Shah Alam Market to Mayo Hospital. The two hospitals are opposite each other but the road between them is very busy. Many babies die on their way due to routine traffic jams. We propose that an overhead bridge or underpass be constructed to connect the two hospitals,” the letter says.

Dr Salman Kazmi of the YDA said “The proposed underpass will not be very expensive. There is just a narrow road between the two. It will save many lives.”

A Health Department official said they had not received any instructions on the subject from the chief secretary’s office yet. He said the Health Department could comment on its feasibility once it was put up to it.

The Mayo Hospital MS Amjad Shahzad said instead of building an overhead bridge or underpass, the Lady Atchison Hospital should be strengthened. “The YDA did not discuss this proposal with me. I would have obtained data on the patients shifted between the hospitals everyday. The proposal should only be discussed if the number of patients is significant”, he said. He said the YDA should support their proposal with actual data.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2014.