Patient's death inside lift: Probe committees start investigation
They visited the hospital and talked with doctors, patients, nurses and other stuff
Two separate investigation committees, formed over the death of a heart patient inside a lift of Shaheed Tajuddin Medical College in Gazipur, have started their probe today (13 May).
The investigation committee, formed by the district administration, visited the hospital this morning. The members of the committees inspected the lift, toured the medicine department, and engaged in discussions with patients.
They also talked with the doctors, nurses, ward boy and liftmen of the hospital.
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Before the inspection, the committee members held a meeting with the hospital's Deputy Director Dr Jahangir Alam.
When contacted, Dr Jahangir Alam mentioned that the investigation committees discussed various issues regarding the patient's death.
Another probe committee, formed by the Directorate General of Health Services, briefed the media after their visit this afternoon.
During the briefing, DGHS Assistant Director Masud Reza, said they are investigating whether any negligence occurred in the death of the patient.
"If evidence of negligence is found, it will be mentioned in the report, and recommendations will be made for appropriate punishment," he said.
On Sunday (12 May), Momtaz Begum, a heart patient, died after getting stuck in a lift of Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College Hospital for about 45 minutes reportedly.
Momtaz, 53, is wife of Sharfuddin of Raniganj Barigaon village in Kapasia upazila of Gazipur.
In a letter sent to the DGHS on Sunday afternoon, the hospital authorities said she died during a chaos inside a lift during a power outage, which damaged the safety system and delayed the rescue operation.
The hospital also claimed that the lift was stuck for a maximum of 10-15 minutes, not the reported 45 minutes.
According to the letter, the lift got trapped between the 9th and 10th floor initially due to a power outage. Although the Automated Rescue Device (ARD) typically activates within a minute in such situations, panicked occupants, accompanying the patient, exacerbated the situation inside, causing the door safety system to malfunction.
After manual intervention by the lift operator, the elevator was brought to a floor and people including the patient were able to come out of it.
The entire process reportedly took 10-15 minutes, said the letter signed by the hospital director (acting) Md Jahangir Alam and PWD E/M Division-10 Engineer Md Abdul Halim.
Momtaz, who got stuck inside the lift, was rushed to the emergency department but was declared dead upon arrival.
