Lifts at hospital undergoing upgrading
KUCHING: Oct 7, 2016 was the date a young mother delivered a baby while trapped inside a lift for nearly an hour early in the morning at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH).
The 18-year-old, a first-time mum, was making her way to the delivery ward on the fourth floor of the hospital with two accompanying nurses when the incident happened around 3.50am.
The unnerving wait ended around 4.45am when maintenance workers used a designated key to open the door of the malfunctioning lift. By that time, she had already given birth to a baby boy weighing about 2.5 pounds with the assistance of the two nurses.
Then Assistant Minister of Public Health Datuk Dr Jerip Susil had said the six lifts at SGH were all over-used, resulting in the lifts breaking down from time to time.
Complaints about SGH lifts breaking down were quite regular before this, but credit should be given to the Ministry of Health for replacing the lifts and ensuring the lifts are serviced regularly. As a result of that, incidences of malfunctioning of lifts in SGH were able to be minimised.
After about one year of the incident, The Borneo Post revisited the lifts at SGH yesterday and found that four of the six lifts were functioning, while the other two were undergoing upgrading. There is also a lift specially dedicated for emergency use.
According to a notice pasted by the Public Works Department, the upgrading of the six lifts would be divided into three phases, with each phase requiring the dismantling of two units of the lifts and installation of two new units, associated components and works.