Patients in hospital lift ordeal

2009-01-08 09:50

Herman Scholtz

Johannesburg - A pregnant woman may lose her baby after she and about ten people were stuck for nearly an hour in an elevator at Charlotte Maxeke (formerly Johannesburg) Hospital.

Caroline Gumede, 26, was rushed to surgery on Wednesday night to try to save her baby. She is six weeks pregnant.

"The doctors have already told me it doesn't look good. Even if the baby survives, there are now many other complications," said her husband, Musa Khumalo, 31.

Doctors struggled from 10:00 on Wednesday to save Gumede and her baby, after Khumalo managed to break open the elevator.

Khumalo said they had stepped into the elevator at about 09:05 in the hospital's Block 3.

"It got stuck near the sixth floor. We pressed the alarm but nobody came to help us. We only heard people laughing. The intercom also didn't work," said Khumalo.

"There was a narrow gap in the door and we tried to force it open. Fortunately, the security guards eventually heard us and helped from the other side to open the door," he said.

Panic attack

Gumede was the first person in the elevator to get a panic attack. She fainted and started bleeding.

Three patients, a doctor, a cleaner and a family were also in the elevator. Three of them suffered from asthma and they also started getting panic attacks and vomited.

Clement Hendricks, 50, his wife Lorraine, 50, eldest daughter, 31, twin daughters, 16, and granddaughter (one month old) were in the elevator.

His wife was being treated for kidney stones at the hospital.

"The doctor called the emergency number that was put up in the elevator, but they kept telling us they were coming," said Hendricks.

Most of the people in the elevator had to be taken to the casualty ward to be put on a drip after the doors were broken down, said a hospital staff member.

Demanded an explanation

Hendricks said he wanted to see the chief executive of the hospital to demand an explanation, but security guards had stopped him.

"When I eventually forced my way through to the chief executive's office, I realised there wasn't a chief executive."

The former chief executive, Sagie Pillay, had resigned a while ago and the hospital at this stage only had an interim head.

One of the senior health officials who was supposed to investigate the complaints was apparently stuck in a lift in another block while on her way to talk to the trapped people.

The hospital could not be reached for comment.

- Beeld