Lady Reading Hospital

Lady Reading Hospital is located at Peshawar in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan. It is also called Loye Huspatal (big hospital) and Gernali Huspatal. It is named after Lady Reading, the wife of the Viceroy of India, Lord Reading. It is the biggest hospital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, providing tertiary care facilities.

Overview of history
It was established in 1924 and it is just 200 metres (220 yards) away in the south of the Grand Trunk Road, 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, Viceroy of India from 1921 to 1926, happened to visit Peshawar. 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" (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 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 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 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 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 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 & 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.