LAHORE: The Jinnah Hospital`s administration on Sunday finally took a bold step by getting encroachments along the infirmary`s boundary wall removed.

The footpath along the hospital`s wall was replete with different encroachments, including kiosks set up by operators of private ambulance services, makeshift eateries and a charity food outlet.

These encroachments had been causing frequent traffic jams on Maulana Shaukat Ali Road near the main entrance to the hospital leading to its emergency ward.

`With the help of the district administration, all the encroachments have been removed during a clean-up operation,` said Medical Superintendent Dr Suhail Saqlain.

After retrieving the encroached upon space, the hospital administration has got placed benches there for the patients and their attendants.

A mechanism had also been devised to prevent reemergence of encroachments, claimed Dr Suhail.

BLOOD BANKS SEALED: A team of the Punjab Blood Transfusion Authority (BTA) recovered a large number of poor-quality blood bags and screening kits from illegal transfusion units in Gujranwala on Sunday.

A spokesman said that led by BTA Secretary Dr Ather, the team sealed Punjab Blood Bank, Civic Centre Blood Transfusion Centre and Al-Qaim Blood Bank located near Munir Chowk.

More than 200 bags containing substandard blood and its components were recovered from the Punjab Blood Bank, he said, adding that it was the largest quantity found so far in any illegal blood unit in the city.

All delivery points of the blood bank had also been closed as transfusion was going on there without the supervision of any qualified person. Similarly, the team barred Noor Lab from operating its blood bank service.

It also visited Hafizabad and appreciated the working of the district headquaners hospital`s blood unit, said the spokesman.