…I was about to enter the elevator before it crashed- welfare officer
The Deputy Speaker of the Lagos state House of Assembly, Hon. Mojisola Miranda, has said the House would soon come up with a comprehensive report on the death of Dr. Vwaere Diaso after concluding its investigation.
It would be recalled that a faulty elevator at the staff quarters of the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos, had claimed the life of Diaso, who was living in the facility.
The incident happened in the evening of Wednesday August 2, 2023, when the deceased, who lived on the 9th floor of the building, wanted to meet a dispatch rider who had brought her the food she earlier ordered online.
Miranda, who led an Adhoc Committee of the House to the site of the incident on Monday, told the Medical Director of the General Hospital, Dr. Abiola Aduke Mafe that the Committee would like to know the people in charge of the facility and what really caused the incident.
“We were told that the young lady was not properly attended to, and that she spent over 45 minutes in the elevator before she was rescued and that there was no blood for her to be rescued. Our job here is to know what really happened so that we know what to do and it is important for us to know the truth. We will come up with our report after concluding investigations,” she said.
In her response, Dr. Mafe stated that the Lagos State Infrastructure Management Agency (LASIAMA) employed the facilities manager and that she was like a landlord without a key to the apartment.
Mafe stated that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the state even clarified that the building was under a facility manager supplied by LASIAMA, adding that everything there was under their supervision.
She explained that the last MD of the hospital said the same thing when he was asked to speak on the matter.
The CMD told the committee that IPP supplies electricity to the facility and the General Hospitals in the state.
“For so many years, we had been cut off from the Electricity Distribution Company. IPP tried by putting us on priority line, but they didn’t put the building under that because they said it is under residential.
“That is why we sometimes have electricity and they don’t have. When we went to the PS, Health Services Commission, Dr. Eniayewu, he said that the MD of Island Maternity, Dr. Omololu and myself should come together and assist them with diesel. If you check, we don’t have budget for diesel in Lagos offices due to the IPP intervention. Dr. Eniayewu now said that each of us should give them 100 litres of diesel per week for their generating set.
“We don’t know much about elevators, but security experts, elevator experts are parts of the investigative panel set up by the government. But we have an emergency response in our trauma department,” said Mafe.
The Welfare Officer for the House Officers, Dr Michael Adejumo said that he was about to enter the elevator on the 8th floor after Dr Diaso had entered it on the 9th floor, as he had already pressed the elevator, when he realised that the lift had developed a fault.
Adejumo stated that everyone rushed down when they realised that someone was stuck in the elevator.
The Deputy House Officers Representative, Dr Shola Onadipe, disclosed that a lot of complaints were made to the facility managers on the state of elevators before the incident but that no positive response was received from them.
Onadipe said the facility managers claimed that it was not part of their contract.
Debunking the claim that Daiso was not attended to when the incident occured, Onadipe said that everyone around rushed down to save her immediately the elevator crashed.
“So she was not left unattended to. Oxygen was brought, but blood was not needed that point in time,” said Onadipe.
