100 years of Lady Reading Hospital

Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar is about to complete 100 years of establishment. Alice Edith Isaacs (Lady Reading), the first wife of Rufus Isaacs, Viceroy of India, founded the hospital in 1924. The construction work was completed in 1927. This building block is now known as the Bolton Block. Over time, the hospital was expanded to include 200 kanals.

Since its inception, Lady Reading Hospital has been a center of hygiene for millions of people in the region. In the last decade, when terrorism was at its peak, this was the frontline hospital and medical aid was provided to victims of bomb blasts and suicide attacks. According to Muhammad Asim, the spokesperson of Lady Reading Hospital, “This hospital, famous as the Jarneli Hospital, which was built in 1927, is still providing treatment facilities to the remote areas of different districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a large number of people coming from Afghanistan.” Is.

When the construction work of this hospital was completed in 1927, then its Bolton Hall had a capacity of 150 beds, today there is a facility of 1800 beds. Orthopedic, surgery unit, gynae, peds and the only neurosurgery unit of the province are working in the hospital, where about six thousand patients come every day. After that, the hospital has 25 operation theatres, international radiology and all other modern medical facilities.

Basically the LRH is administratively divided into three divisions, first comes the post of Dean who is the head of all teaching training, inspection and academic activities of all units as per the Act, training of doctors and Monitors capacity building and keeps doctors updated with latest training, new knowledge and technology.

Similarly, the medical director has a very important responsibility, he is responsible for the ‘clinical care’ of the patients who come and go to the hospital. Every unit of the hospital and every doctor is accountable to the Medical Director, the MD has a very important role in providing better medical care to the patients.

The Hospital Director is the administrative head of the LRH providing all support and manpower to the Dean and MD office. All administrative affairs including departments such as HR, Pharmacy, Material Management, Inpatient, Housekeeping, Security, Media, Quality Assurance, Nursing, IT, Biomedical, Engineer work, Electric etc. report to the Hospital Director. Understand that the hospital director oversees the administrative departments of the hospital.

Currently, Lady Reading Hospital is the largest hospital in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 32 specialties, 12 major operation theaters, 5 ICUs and 1800 beds. If seen, 3 to 4 thousand patients are examined in LRH OPD on daily basis while 3 thousand patients are examined in emergency. LRH’s Emergency Department is equipped with state-of-the-art medical facilities. The international standard emergency has up to 300 beds and is capable of performing various operations including all medical facilities to deal with any emergency situation. This historical hospital has the largest gynecology department in the province where 50 to 70 babies are delivered daily and has the capacity to have all backups in case of any emergency, such as major operations, oxygen supply or IC. A facility like U is provided on time.

LRH ‘Med Surge Building’ is equipped with modern style and medical facilities. It consists of 500 beds, 18 ICU beds, 9 specialties, 25 ORS and two large public cafeterias. A separate recovery room has been allocated by the administration for the victims of bomb blasts, drones and landmines in Med Surge where these injured are kept till full recovery. LRH wards and ‘Pedcardiac Ward’ consists of 58 beds. This year emergency medical assistance was provided to two lakh children while around one lakh different operations were performed. Lady Reading Hospital is the only hospital in the province where more than 2 million patients are treated every year. LRH played an important role during the corona virus days, there is hardly any hospital which treated millions of corona patients, here a separate ward was allocated for corona which provided timely free medical facilities.

This hospital is equipped with all kinds of modern machinery and equipments, there are modern X-ray, CT scan, MRI, ultrasound machine, for which separate specialist staff are performing their duties 24 hours a day. The laboratory of Lady Reading Hospital is a state-of-the-art laboratory of international standards where all types of tests are conducted round the clock at very low cost. LRH is one of the hospitals with the highest number of PhD holders on staff. About five thousand staff work in the hospital, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, support staff and administrative officers.

The lone messiah of around 350 blasts, drone strikes and landmine-like tragedies, LRH provided support to millions of people in the terror-hit province. There are only a few hospitals in the world that have faced such a ‘mass emergency’. Lady Reading Hospital provided all kinds of medical facilities to around 350 blast, drone and mine victims during the period of terrorism and unrest in the province. The bomb blast in Peshawar Meena Bazaar in 2009 and the terrorist attack on Army Public School in 2014 are among the biggest tragedies, hundreds of injured were brought to Lady Reading Hospital in a very serious condition and Along with the administration, the medical staff played their full role.

Being the largest hospital in the province, it not only provides immediate medical care to Peshawar and its adjoining areas, but also from Bajaur to Waziristan, Chitral to Karam, even Mardan and Charsadda. In case of tragedy, the injured are brought to LRH and the doors of the hospital remain open to provide all kinds of medical care. Critical condition patients are also brought from neighboring Afghanistan. They are also treated in the same way as the people of their own country or province. The medical staff of the hospital also provided full support in these difficult situations and when their leave was canceled by the government or the hospital administration, they continued to perform their duties on time without delay. Treated the injured day and night.

There is no doubt that after the MTI reforms, LRH changed its face, along with the purchase of modern machinery and all kinds of equipment, Pakistani doctors from abroad joined the hospital, including expert surgeons and other doctors. Included.

Now the number of nurses has also been doubled while other important departments have been appointed which is benefiting the patients. LRH is one of the largest and best hospitals in Pakistan in terms of administrative facility and modern treatment.

Whenever a bad time befalls the province, the staff of LRH helps the victims to the fullest, that is why it is called the “Oldest, Biggest and Best Hospital”. It is necessary to pay special attention to the biggest hospital of the province, which is the biggest hope of the patients. This hospital should be kept above politics and the necessary funds should be provided uninterruptedly because when the patient is not provided treatment in the biggest hospital of the province, where will the patient go?