NMA panel reveals faulty elevator at Lagos General Hospital caused Dr Diaso’s death

The elevator that killed Vwaere Diaso at the General Hospital, Lagos Island, according to the Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), was not fit for usage.

The association had established a team to look into what exactly happened that caused Diaso, a medical student at the hospital doing her housemanship, to pass away.

The 11-person team is led by Saheed Babajide and is made up of an impartial group of physicians, solicitors and engineers.

Diaso was in the lift as it crashed to the ground from the building’s 10th story. She had varying degrees of injury, and a hospital coroner pronounced her dead.

The elevator mechanism that caused the tragedy “ought not have been put to use to avoid endangering lives,” the panel stated in its report, which was published on Wednesday.

According to the report, the panel members’ interviews with two house officers revealed that the building’s two lift systems had been ineffectively functioning for a considerable amount of time.

The panel stated that it had seen no installed verified maintenance structure or equipment for the use of the lift.

The report noted that there was a delay in rescuing the injured late doctor while the estimated time spent in the car after the accident was about an hour.

The panel found that professional excellence was not applied in the provision of the lift system in the building.

Read Also: Lagos govt suspends LASIMRA GM, sacks facility managers over doctor’s death in elevator accident

Following its findings, the panel recommended that qualified professionals should be engaged in carrying out designs, supervision, and installation of public assets.

“Following the standards of Lagos State Safety Commission, we recommend that hospital assets be maintained and serviced by the hospital management to avoid needless bureaucracy and such assets should be certified annually by competent professionals,” the report reads.

“Upon commissioning of assets or technical equipment, the operators of the equipment must be adequately trained and retrained on safety and proper operation and handling of emergencies.

“Routine safety drills should be conducted by safety officers for all staff.”

The panel also recommended the investigation of all stakeholders and contractors involved and the prosecution of anyone found culpable.

Dr. Vwaere Diaso died at the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island, after an elevator she took crashed.

The hospital elevator that killed the late Diaso crashed from the 10th floor to the ground floor.

It was also gathered that the late doctor was rushed to the emergency ward of the hospital for treatment but eventually died.

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