Faulty hospital elevator traps elderly patient for two days

Lift handlers fail to place any cautionary board to alert patients, caregivers, sta and other prospective users about the malfunctioning unit, leading to 59-year-old’s scary ordeal

Afaulty and unattended elevator in the crowded Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, perilously trapped Raveendran Nair, 59, an outpatient suering from severe back pain, with no scope of rescue for two days.

Shockingly, the elevator handlers allegedly failed to place any cautionary board, arguably a clear sign of negligence and o…cial apathy, to alert patients, caregivers, medical personnel, and other prospective users about the malfunctioning unit, leading to Mr Nair’s scary ordeal.

The incident has triggered a public outcry and rendered the Health Department vulnerable to harsh criticism on social and mainstream media. Health Minister Veena George also drew Opposition Šak.

Mr. Nair, local secretary of the CPI in Ulloor, had entered the lift on Saturday to save himself the discomfort of descending the stairs with a bad spinal condition to reach the ground Šoor after his medical examination at the orthopaedic department on the upper level.

Cell phone damaged

Mr Nair later told reporters that the elevator lurched on its way down, causing him to drop and damage his cell phone.

He pushed the alarm button and slammed on the metal door for hours but to no avail. Mr Nair also tried the emergency line inside the elevator, but nobody on the receiving end seemed to listen.

Tired, dehydrated and beset by pain, hunger, thirst and panic, Mr Nair collapsed on the elevator’s Šoor, where he lay agonising and in a delirium till Monday morning.

Two technicians who opened the lift for repair found Mr Nair prostrated on the Šoor and drenched in urine and excrement.

Harsh light

Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan said the incident was emblematic of the Health Department’s disregard for the welfare of lakhs of ordinary persons who braved long queues and travelled distances hoping to get aordable medical care and attention at public hospitals. Mr Satheesan said the incident threw a harsh light on the decaying infrastructure in government hospitals, and the government seemed to care less.

Fallout

On Monday, the Kerala Medical Education Directorate scrambled to mitigate the public fallout of the incident.

It suspended two lift operators and also a duty sergeant.

However, the opposition felt the government was scapegoating a few sta for the system’s failure.

Mr Satheesan said Health Minister Veena George had lost the moral right to continue in her of–ce.