Another patient and a doctor got stuck in a lift at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital in Kerala, one day after a man was saved from a terrifying 42-hour experience trapped in a faulty lift there.
They got stuck in the elevator that connects the CT Scan department to the emergency room. The medical college police arrived at the scene and rescued them after being informed of the incident.
Before this incident, a 59-year-old man, Raveendran visited the orthopedic department to see a doctor for his back pain. Raveendran went inside the elevator alone. The lift made a loud crash sound before it reached the first floor. His phone fell, breaking the screen due to the sudden jolt. He waited for a bit in the hopes that the lift would soon be mended and that help would arrive, but nothing out of the ordinary was seen by anybody in the busy OP. Meanwhile, the lift operator departed and locked the lift. The following day, being a Sunday, nobody tried to open or approach the lift. Later, Raveendran was found in the elevator on Monday after a routine check. He got stuck in the lift on Saturday afternoon. After more than 42 hours he was found.
His family filed a complaint with the hospital following Raveendran's absence from the medical college. But he was nowhere to be seen.
The incident points out severe negligence in the healthcare field. This turned out to be an embarrassing situation for Kerala's health system because it happened at the state's largest medical college, which is open 24 hours a day.
If Raveendran hadn't been found on Monday morning, his life might have been at risk. Elevator accidents are nothing new. A young woman from Pathanapuram lost her life three years ago after falling from the lift of the regional cancer center located on the campus of the medical college. There were pieces of wood covering the top of the lift, which was undergoing maintenance. Not a single warning sign was put up. Officials from the health department promised not to make the same mistakes again once the episode became controversial. All of these promises, meanwhile, are mere words, as the recent instance proves.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Priyanka Pandey/MSM)
