Lady Reading Hospital is located at

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

in the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is also called ''Loye Huspatal'' (big hospital) and ''Gernali Huspatal''. It is named after Lady Reading, the wife of the

Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...

, Lord Reading. It is the biggest hospital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, providing tertiary care facilities.

Overview of history

It was established in 1924Pakistan city hospital in war-time crisis
Hindustan Times (newspaper), Published 22 November 2009, Retrieved 11 September 2022 and it is just 200 metres (220 yards) away in the south of the

Grand Trunk Road Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It r ...

, behind the famous historical Qila Balahisar. Famous Masjid Mahabat Khan, Ander Shehr bazaar, Qissa Khwani Bazaar and Khyber Bazaar is across the road of LRH. LRH is just outside historical wall in the jurisdiction of cantonment board. The anecdote of the hospital of its coming into being is that His Excellency Lord Reading,

from 1921 to 1926, happened to visit

. He was accompanied by his spouse Lady Reading. She was fascinated by the view of the city from Bala Hissar Fort where they had lodged. She expressed her desire to see the city. The story, probably apocryphal is that she was provided with a horse in compliance with her desire. She visited the city. As she was returning to the fort, Lady Reading fell from her horse, resulting in some injuries. Non-availability of medical aid instantly made her unconscious. She was rushed to Egerton Hospital where the facilities were scanty. Unable to deal with her injuries, she was shifted to the Royal Artillery Hospital now called "

Combined Military Hospital Combined Military Hospitals (, abbreviated as CMH) are Pakistan Armed Forces hospitals situated in various cantonments of Pakistan. History During the British Raj, the British Indian Army troops depended for their medical treatment entirely o ...

" (or CMH) Peshawar, where she was given proper treatment. The immense impact of this incident on her made it imperative to construct a hospital. On retirement of Lord Reading in 1926 she came to Peshawar from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

and campaigned to construct a standard hospital in place of Egerton Hospital. She donated Rs. 52,000 for the construction. This new hospital was subsequently named Lady Reading Hospital. Later on, the hospital was given into status of District Headquarters hospital with 150 beds and in 1930 it was a 200-bed hospital. Brierly Ward was added in 1936 named after Lt Col Sir Charles Brierly Chief Medical Officer of NWFP (IMS) and Inspector General of Civil Hospitals. Khan Bahadur Abdul Samad Khan became the first Medical Superintendent of the hospital. Muhammad Ayaz Khan was appointed the first Administrator of the hospital in 1973. This hospital became affiliated with

Khyber Medical College Khyber Medical College (, abbreviated as KMC) is a public sector medical college located in Peshawar. Khyber Medical College is the oldest medical college of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and was established in 1954. It is considered as a mo ...

in 1955 with medical, surgical, ENT, Eye and TB wards.

Departments

The hospital catchment population includes patients from all over the province, erstwhile tribal areas and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

as well. Currently Lady Reading Hospital is serving the largest number of patients in the region having a capacity of 1790+ beds and 33 different Medical Specialties. Prominent are:

Out Patient Department

The out patient departments deals with an average of 4500 patients daily and has over 26 clinics.

Emergency Department

It is the largest trauma center of

dealing with 3000 to 4000 patients daily. It also has its own system of Triaging, known as the LRH Model Triaging System.

Medical Departments

* Cardiology * Dermatology * Endocrinology * Gastroenterology * Medicine * Nephrology * Neurology * Peadiatrics * Pulmonology * Rheumatology * Psychiatry

Surgical Departments

* Burn & Plastic Surgery * Cardiovascular * ENT * Gynae * Neurosurgery * Orthopedic * Ophthamology * Peads Surgery * Surgical * Peadiatric Cardiac Surgery * Urology * Maxillofacial Surgery

Clinical

* Anesthesia * Pathology * Pharmacy Services * Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation * Radiology

COVID 19

Lady Reading Hospital being the largest public sector Tertiary Care Hospital in the province. Continuing its practice in serving the public with the best medical facilities, the institution has served again as major front line Hospital in the Peak COVID Situation and has catered for more than 5000 COVID patients, among the largest number of COVID patients at any hospital in Pakistan, with best possible care. The Medical Facility, Medication, including around 500 dedicated COVID Beds, Patient Care in the dedicated supervision of the best and highly experienced doctors and paramedical staff. For COVID Patients in addition to the other medication, OXYGEN has been a key & major Component of the Treatment. The Medical Oxygen provision has also been upto the mark and patients have been provided with uninterrupted Supply of Oxygen throughout the COVID 4 Waves.

References

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External links

Lady Reading Hospital About Us
{{Authority control Hospitals in Peshawar Hospital buildings completed in 1924 Hospitals established in 1924 1924 establishments in British India British colonial architecture in India