Private hospital stopped from expansion on residential plots

The District Central administration on Wednesday directed a private hospital’s management to immediately stop its expansion activities in Federal B Area on the complaint of a large number of locals.

“Today, on the complaint of residents of Block 17 of Federal B Area, commonly known as Ancholi, the Central deputy commissioner directed the administration of the Mamji Hospital to immediately halt construction on residential plots, demolition of residential buildings for commercial purposes and digging ground for deep basements, and to appear before him with the approved building plans on July 29,” Sajjad Haider Dara, former UC Nazim of the area, told the media on Wednesday.

Ancholi residents said that the expansion and construction on residential plots, use of heavy machinery and demolition of buildings had not only endangered their abodes but also put their lives in danger.

They urged the health department authorities to look into the matter immediately and to prevent them from the constant agony due to the purely commercial activities by a private hospital.

“This hospital runs heavy generators 24 hours a day for power generation, uses boilers for its operations, and its infectious waste is often dumped on roads and empty places nearby,” said Dara.

“They have occupied the service lane completely, and due to the arrival of patients in private vehicles, these vehicles are parked on the main road and in the adjoining streets, causing immense hardships to the locals.”

The News learnt that the locals had been holding demonstrations against the hospital’s expansion, claiming that the Sindh Building Control Authority not only allowed the merging of residential plots into a huge plot but also threatened the protesters with dire consequences if they continued to create hurdles in the expansion.

A District Central administration official said that on the locals’ complaints, Deputy Commissioner Farhan Ghani Khan ordered the assistant commissioner and the police to immediately halt the expansion, and asked the hospital management to appear before him with the approved building plans on Monday.

“The assistant commissioner and the police have also been directed to remove the illegal parking outside the hospital and vacating the service lane, and the hospital management has been asked to take immediate measures to properly dispose of hospital waste.”

The official said the district administration has advised the locals to approach the Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) if the hospital is violating any relevant health laws.

SHCC CEO Dr Minhaj Qidwai said the hospital was registered with them, adding that if the locals had complained to the hospital management and their complaints had not been entertained, then the SHCC could be approached.

“Our laws say that first a complainant has to go to the relevant health facility, and if that facility does not respond within a fixed time, the complainant can approach the commission for remedial action.”

The hospital’s management confirmed that the District Central administration had stopped construction on plots behind the health facility, but they said that the owners of these plots were getting their houses constructed on those plots and that the hospital had nothing to do with them.

“If the administration of our hospital is asked to provide relevant documents and permissions, we are ready to do that,” said Arif Mamji of the hospital. “We are purely a legal entity and we are following all the rules and regulations.”