KARACHI:Encroachments have again reappeared around major public hospitals of Karachi, creating immense problems to drivers of ambulances carrying injured and emergency patients as well as for medical staff.
The Ministry of Local Government Sindh and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) Encroachment Cell seemed to be playing the role of a silent spectators. During a visit to different hospitals of the metropolis such as Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH), Sindh Institute of Skin Diseases (SISD) and Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), one would see that not only the roads leading to these health facilities have been heavily encroached upon, but even the adjacent narrow streets have been unlawfully occupied by pushcarts selling fruits and other eatable items.
An administrative official of CHK told PPI that the massive encroachment were not only causing hindrance in the movement of ambulances carrying patients but also creating problems to people rushing to the hospital’s emergency. He urged relevant authorities to immediately take notice of the situation and remove the encroachments outside the hospital and depute anti-encroachment officials outside the institution during rush hours.
Musa Khan, a ambulance driver, told that he had to wait for half an hour to enter CHK’s emergency ward through Jamma Cloth because of the traffic jam caused by encroachments and illegal parking outside the hospital.
The some private rescue organizations have set up ambulance counters outside the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center and National Institute of Child Health, which is causing nuisance to the visiting patients and medical fraternity. Meanwhile, rickshaws and taxi drivers have also established their permanent stands around the hospital in connivance with local police.
On the other hand, all the linked roads leading to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital run by KMC have been encroached by medical stores and private ambulances in connivance with KMC officials. The encroachments cause constant road blockages in rush hours. More than 25,000 patients visit different OPDs of these health facilities in the city every day which are facing problems due to constant road blockage and encroachments outside the hospitals.