Patients lives hang in balance over dysfunctional lifts in Gandhi hospital

Patients are forced to take a detour of 10 mins to get to the ICU, which could be life threatening
A patient being taken on a wheelchair to Gandhi Hospital’s ICU on Saturday
A patient being taken on a wheelchair to Gandhi Hospital’s ICU on Saturday

HYDERABAD: Patients and attendants at Gandhi Hospital’s 65-bedded ICU are put to severe inconvenience as two lifts in the Emergency block, where the ICU is  located, have been dysfunctional.  
When a person is in need of emergency medical  care, every second is extremely important as any delay could result in death. The Casualty ward is located on ground floor of Emergency Block and the newly-inaugurated ICU is on the third floor. Since lifts in the Emergency block are not working, they are taken to nearby Outpatient (OP) block where lifts are working. 

a malfunctioning
elevator | sayantan
ghosh

OP and Emergency blocks are interconnected through common floors. If a patient has to be shifted from the Casualty ward to ICU, they are put on a stretcher, carried out of the ward all the way to the lifts in the OP Block, taken out of the lift and carried back to  Emergency block. 
Had the elevators in the Emergency block been functional, it would have taken less than two minutes to take the patient from Casualty to ICU. Now, it takes more than six minutes. 

The time taken increases depending on the availability of lift and number of people in the OP Block. Also, since this is monsoon, it can rain anytime and patients cannot be taken out in such situations. 
“Every second  is important. For instance,  if a patient suffers from a heart attack, they need Thrombolysis which is performed in ICUs. Patients suffering from hypotension need immediate ventilator support and it should be made available as soon as possible. Any delay can result in death,”  sources said. 

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