LAHORE: During the downpour in the city in the wee hours of Friday, rainwater entered the operation theatres, wards and other parts of the newly-constructed multi-storey emergency block of the Mayo Hospital due to the seepage and cracks appearing in the ceiling and walls, exposing the substandard work carried out at a cost of around Rs1 billion as part of the recent public hospitals revamp programme.

The video clips of the seepage and leakages in the emergency block’s ceiling circulating on social media invited strong criticism of the hospital’s management and the health authorities who had been making tall claims about the ‘quality of work’ while spending billions of rupees funds on the renovation of the public sector hospitals across Punjab.

The provincial health department had reportedly sought Rs60 billion for the renovation and revamp of the state-run hospitals across Punjab. The new emergency block of the Mayo Hospital was also included the revamp project, and was made functional without completion of the renovation work some weeks back to please the Punjab government.

An official privy to the information says that as the huge cracks appeared in the ceiling of the emergency block, allowing the rainwater to enter the building, the hospital administration left the patients at the mercy of the junior staff.

Critical patients left at the mercy of junior staff during the emergency

He says the Mayo Hospital’s emergency ward was the most-visited facility in Lahore, where more than 7,000 critical patients are brought daily, including those with life-threatening injuries suffered in road accidents, building collapse incidents etc.

The official says that some critical patients were undergoing complicated surgeries in the four operation threatres of the hospital when the leakage occurred.

The rainwater damaged the parts of the building, besides the medical and surgical equipment, he says, adding that surgeons who were busy in operations left the theatres, directing the staff to shift the patients to safe places.

The official says the patients who were on ventilators were also shifted to other wards, while the hospital’s top management didn’t bother to take any emergent measures to save the lives of the critical patients for hours.

The management swung into action only when the video clips of the ceiling leakage and seepage in the emergency block went viral on social media, where Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz was also criticised for not taking action against the negligent officers.

As the rainwater entered many ground-floor wards of the hospital, their drainage system overflowed, further exposing the poor quality of work in the building.

The official says the situation put the lives of the critical patients in the operation theatres and emergency ward at risk.

Later, during media talk, the hospital management shifted the blame to the C&W officers and the contractors, saying they were responsible for the poor quality of work which led to the damage to the new building.

However, the management avoided responding to the media queries about the delayed response with regard to rescuing the patients during the emergency situation.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2024