Lack of coherence between the district administration and Hamidia Hospital authorities is causing a harrowing time for patients and caregivers, who must negotiate bad roads and diversions to reach the main medical facility.
Traffic problems in the area have worsened considerably since hospital authorities boarded up the main gate, in front of Taj Market, to give it a facelift, and told citizens to use either of the two other two gates to get to the facility.
An apparently simple solution, only this one is riddled with complications as patients coming in from the densely populated Shahjahanabad-Idgah side must take a long detour via Peer Gate and Moti Masjid to reach the old gate at Fatehgarh, or navigate some really confusing barricades before Imami Gate and drive on the wrong side of the road for a few metres to get to the hospital.
Adding to this jumble of vehicular is the abruptly halted road construction activity on the Taj Mahal–GPO road. Garnish this with the pop-up Ijtema Market at the Taj-ul-Masajid complex, which opens on December 1, and you may well have your worst traffic nightmare come true.
Originally held on the west flank of the mosque complex, the Ijtema Market now spills over into the streets in front of the currently closed Hamidia Hospital gate. Bands of local goons charge fees from gullible visitors for allowing them to park their two-wheelers on the main road.
It is standard global practice to allow easy access to vehicles headed for large hospitals, as even a minute-long delay may prove fatal for a patient. But the delay in this case is incomprehensible, especially as a few minor tweaks—like opening of barricades at Imami Gate—could easily resolve the issue at least for patients headed to Hamidia.
Though the traffic department has written to hospital authorities to either open the closed gate or make alternative arrangements until its completion, the district administration is yet to issue traffic advisories for the Ijtema Market, or even provide a schedule for the completion of the Taj Mahal–GPO route.
