Elderly patient stuck in lift for 2 days at Kerala govt hospital

Callousness at Thiruvananthapuram’s Medical College Hospital (MCH) hit bizarre heights when an elderly patient visiting an outpatient OP wing of the govt-run facility got trapped inside a lift and went unnoticed for two days.
A lift operator who came for duty last week noticed Raveendran Nair unconscious inside the lift stuck between the first and second floor of the orthopaedic department. The 59-year-old was then pulled out by staff, nearly 48 hours after he entered the malfunctioning lift on way for a check-up.
Two lift operators and a duty sergeant have been suspended based on a probe carried out on health minister Veena George’s directives.
Nair, a daily-wager at a govt-run MLA Hostel, was up against more than just a snagged elevator. Sometime after his ordeal started, Nair said his mobile phone slipped from his hands and broke when the lift shook violently before getting stuttering to a halt, cutting off all contact. A harrowing few hours followed for Nair, a resident of Ulloor area in the Kerala capital and local secretary of Communist Party of India (CPI). “I kept pressing the alarm button but no one came. I also tried the emergency telephone inside. No one answered. I screamed and shook the grille. Again, no one came to help,” Nair said, adding that he had a panic attack later and fell unconscious. After being rescued, Nair was admitted to the hospital and doctors described his condition as stable.