Health facilities or health hazards

LAHORE
Noted government-run hospitals, dispensaries and water filtration plants in different areas of the provincial capital have become a glaring example of the devil-may-care attitude exhibited by City District Government officials as well as elected representatives.
The tall claims of waste management, disease control and sanitation seems to have been confined to merely press statements or media advertisement in the capital city of Punjab, where the CDGL has not only failed to keep Lahore clean but also failed to protect its medical centre and water filtration plants which are turning into dumping grounds, and, some of them, interestingly fall in the constituency of none other than the Adviser on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique and MNA Hamza Shahbaz, son of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
The heaps of garbage and sewage around city government-run hospitals, dispensaries and water filtration plants are multiplying the chances of disease outbreak rather than protecting the people, particularly children.
The most deplorable situation is seen outside Government Nawaz Sharif hospital, a major hospital situated in the Yakki gate area near Sheranwala. A large number of population hailing from the walled city visits this hospital but just at the entrance point, claims of governance could well be exposed. Just at the main entrance, large pile of filth welcomes the people and just yards away where the government has set up a water filtration plant, situation is not different. Local people told The News that the staffers came according to their wish and it seemed that no one had control on them. At the opposite gate of the same hospital, a large uncovered drain flows, which according to local people, is a constant source of mosquito breeding. The drain is merely three to four feet wide and covering it is no issue for the sitting government which spends millions on its publicity but ignores this important area, said a visitor to the hospital.
This deplorable situation of the external side of the hospital doesn’t only trouble the visitors but also annoys the local, dedicated PML-N workers who are already quite perturbed over the apathy of their elected representatives and negligence of city administration due to which directly party leadership comes under criticism from critics.
Government Nawaz Sharif Hospital, inaugurated by Shahbaz Sharif in 1990, has been named after PML-N head Nawaz Sharif. It used to work under district government but now it is an institution under the Punjab government and belongs to the constituency of Salman Rafique, who enjoys full powers as health minister.
Almost similar situation prevailed in other parts of city, which, interestingly falls in the same NA constituency and on a provincial seat, from where Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, a senior member of Shahbaz Sharif’s cabinet has been the MPA for last three terms, since 2002.
The CDGL dispensary situated at New Shadbagh near Makhanpura side, which falls in Union Council 21 of Ravi Town is another picture of neglect. The dispensary not only seems in an awful state owing to partly destroyed and worn-out structure but also due to the surrounding where local people throw garbage and wait for its removal for days. Local people said, not a single time, any spray to curb dengue or malaria had been carried out here and no senior official had ever visited it.
Similarly, they said that sitting MPA was only seen in election days, never again.
In the area of Wassanpura, another CDGL dispensary, falling in old Union Council 24 where a large number of people come every day for the treatment of minors proves the claims of governance by the government. A large pile of garbage as well as drain water, remains accumulated there for days, quite contrary to the claims of the city administration which, apparently is putting full weight to protect population from dengue outbreak or any other disease. “Neither there has been any spray to kill mosquito by the government team nor did I ever see my MNA, MPA here” said Munir Ahmed, another local resident. This dispensary was inaugurated by Mian Shuja-ur-Rehman, father of Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, the sitting MPA from PP-141 in mid 1980s while he was the Mayor of Lahore.
Just a few hundred yards away, government has set up a beautiful public park known as ‘Inqilabi Park’ which also possesses a water filtration plants. However, due to the constant negligence of CDGL and silence of the local leadership, the park, and filtration plant were gradually turning into dumping ground. Just outside the water filtration plant where people are supposed to get safe drinking water, a highly unhygienic situation prevails with the presence of large heaps of filth, thus turning another health related area into a filth depot. Local people, when contacted stated they had stopped receiving water from this plant and preferred to purchase water rather than visiting this area surrounded by dirt. This is noteworthy that between 2013 till date, the Punjab government has installed around 100 water filtration plants in Lahore and intends to set up same number of plants by the end of this year. According to officials, only a water filtration plant costs Rs2 million to government whereas separate amount is spent on its maintenance. Unfortunately, people in most of the areas of city don’t prefer to get water from these machines due to the highly unhygienic conditions of its surroundings which ultimately causes a loss to government as well as the population. The News tried to contact the sitting MNA Hamza Shahbaz and MPAs from PP-141 and PP-142, Mujtaba Shuja and Salman Rafique respectively but none of them responded. Pervaiz Malik, the President of PML-N Lahore and Chaudhry Shahbaz Ahmed, an MPA as well as Vice-Chairman of Wasa were the members representing PML-N government who talked over the issue.
Talking to The News, Pervaiz Malik stated that all efforts had been made to keep the city clean. He said that due to rain, dirt and water gets accumulated in the areas but the staff concerned removes it whenever there was any complaint. Chaudhry Shahbaz, Vice-Chairman of Wasa expressed similar views and said that whenever any water filtration plant was surrounded by filth, immediate measure would be taken to address it. The News also contacted EDO Health Dr Zulfiqar who while commenting over the deplorable conditions of the CDGL dispensaries stated that all possible measures would be taken to improve their situation for public relief. District Coordination Office (DCO) Lahore Capt (R) Usman Yunus when contacted said that staff concerned would be directed to address the problems wherever they existed.
Despite taking large measures to keep Lahore clean and protect people from diseases such as dengue, malaria etc, much to the surprise of the people, the medical centres and water filtration plants, which should be serving as model areas were fighting huge dirt and other issues which have been unaddressed according to them.
The district government dispensaries, hospitals and water filtration plants falling in the constituencies including NA-120, NA-122, NA-123 were also visited by the The News where situation, according to local people was satisfactory.