Mayo Hospital is the oldest and one of the largest hospitals in Pakistan. It is located in the heart of Lahore City and is surrounded by busy commercial and thickly populated residential areas with famous Anarkali Bazaar, Nila Gumbad, Urdu Bazaar and the Walled City of Old Lahore around it.

The original building of the Mayo Hospital was constructed in Italian style, bricked with Delhi stone brackets, a sloped slate roof, ventilating turrets. It was built to serve as main hospital for the adjoining Lahore Medical School (now Kind Edward Medical College). In its original form it was a two-storeyed structure measuring 408 feet long, by 51.5 feet wide, and 46 feet high with a central tower of four storeys, 120 feet high, surmounted by a dome, and four corner towers of three storeys, 60 feet high. Access to the upper floors was afforded by a staircase 12 feet wide and quite straight, to facilitate the carriage of beds up and down.

The building was designed by W. Purdon, Superintendent Engineer, and constructed under the supervision of Rai Bahadur Kanhaiya Lal, Executive Engineer. The building cost 158,951 Rupees with a contribution of 100,000 Rupees from the Imperial Revenues and Rs 26,697 from the Lahore Municipality and rest was made up by the Punjab Government.

The building was completed in 1870 and opened in 1871. In October of 1871 Earl Mayo, Viceroy of India visited the Hospital and in memory of his visit the Hospital was named as Mayo Hospital.

Now encompassing over 52.8 acres of land and the main building with boundary having 11 gates, the hospital is one of the largest hospitals in South East Asia and is a centre of excellence for public benefit. It had bed capacity of 300 beds on the Day of Independence (1947) but now is extended up to 2399 beds.