A patient died after being trapped for 45 minutes in a lift at Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital in Gazipur on Sunday morning.
The deceased identified as Mamtaz Begum, 53, wife of Sharfuddin was from Raniganj Bangaon village of Kapasia upazila of Gazipur.
Relatives alleged they first informed the hospital liftmen but they misbehaved instead of rescuing them. Later, relatives called national helpline 999 and then fire service personnel recused them after 45 minutes. Sharmin Akter, daughter of the deceased, said, “We brought my mother to the hospital at 6:00am after she fell ill in the morning. She was first admitted to the medicine department. As tests detected her heart complication and physicians advised taking her to the cardiovascular department on the 3rd floor from the 10th floor, but the lift stopped in the 8th floor. At the time, my uncle, brother and I were accompanying my mother. As we were suffocating, we call to the mobile number of three liftmen, but they showed gross negligence and misbehaved with us over phone.”
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“We were stuck in the lift for 45 minutes and having seen no way we call 999 and fire service personnel rescued us. My mother died because of the negligence of the liftmen and they have no sense of responsibility,” she lamented.
Hospital deputy director Md Jahangir Alam said Mamtaz Begum was brought to the hospital with chest pains and she got on the lift to go to the 3rd floor from the medicine department and a technical fault occured in the lift at the time, resulting in her being stuck in the lift for a long time. Later, liftmen and fire service personnel rescued them.
All persons trapped in the lift were fine except Mamtaj Begum who died as she was ill.
The matter would be investigated and action would be taken against anyone showing negligence, he added.
