Lift collapses in AIIMS private ward, 5 injured
NEW DELHI: Five people were injured when an elevator with 20 occupants, including a female patient, collapsed at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Saturday morning, eyewitnesses said.
The patient, visiting the hospital for consultation, sustained multiple fractures in her left leg when the lift in the eight-storey private ward near the hospital’s administrative wing fell from the second to the ground floor and sank knee-deep into the elevator-pit below.
“The lift was going up but it did not stop on the second floor and started coming down to the ground floor. Once it came down, people pressed the button again and it went up, but before the door could open it just fell down suddenly,” said Ritesh Sinha, who was inside the elevator with his sister-in-law at the time of the incident.
Four people other than the patient sustained minor injuries, doctors said. The elevator — number 17 — is used by patients, attendants and staff to go to the old wing of private wards. Though a report by a committee set up by the hospital to probe the incident was awaited, authorities said it appeared that the accident was caused by a failure of the elevator’s stopping mechanism.
“The lift failed to stop from second floor to ground floor and went straight to the lift pit which has buffer springs,” read a statement by the hospital.
Of the 20 people inside the elevator, the five who sustained injuries were identified as RK Agarwal, 62, Shashi Kant, 50, Hemant Jha, 45, Taslim Ali, 35, and Shweta Sinha, 29. They were rushed to the hospital’s emergency department. Sinha, the injured 29-year-old woman, was moved to the hospital’s trauma centre across the road for the treatment of her fractured leg. The hospital said all five people were stable.
“Four of the five, who sustained minor injuries like cuts and bruises and muscle sprains, were discharged in the afternoon and evening after appropriate treatment,” a hospital employee said on the condition of anonymity.
AIIMS director Randeep Guleria set up a committee under the chairmanship of medical superintendent DK Sharma.
“There has never been an incident like this at AIIMS and the committee will look into why it happened even after the lift being properly maintained. And, the committee will also suggest appropriate measures for preventing such incidents from happening in the future,” Sharma said.
The company that had installed the elevator had serviced the particular elevator on February 27 under the comprehensive maintenance contract, the hospital statement said.
“It’s not a small incident. The elevator is not only used by the ward patients, but also to transport patients to the operation theatre, transport critical patients on ventilators to the ICU, patients with oxygen cylinders and even for going to the OPD block.
That’s because the elevator is strategically located at the junction of the casualty building and ward block,” said a doctor from AIIMS, who wished not to be named. Police said an FIR would be registered shortly.
“The PWD that was in charge of the maintenance of the lift will ascertain what caused the collapse. Once they give us their findings, we will register an FIR,” said Romil Baaniya, deputy commissioner of police (south).