Who takes responsibility?
The Nigerian Medical Association has been thrown into mourning after a medical doctor, Dr. Vwaere Diaso, Tuesday, died at the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island, after an elevator she took crashed.
Diaso who was described as a very hardworking and diligent house officer, lost her life just two weeks to the completion of her housemanship at the hospital.
This has sparked an outrage, as Nigerians blame the government for negligence, as different allegations have emerged, showing that different individuals at some point complained about the same elevator, claiming it has been faulty and poorly maintained for at least three years. Some also claim that the hospital authorities knew about the elevator’s state but kept making unfulfilled promises to handle it.
In a conversation with Top Society, a doctor in Diaspora who pleaded anonymity, accused the hospital management, especially the Chief Medical Officer of the hospital, of being just as culpable as the government.
“People usually blame the government alone. What about the management of the hospital? The CMD of the hospital. You’ve been given a task. As the CMD of the hospital, your task is to monitor the safety of the patients, and the safety of your workers.”
“So what are they doing? They should be held accountable for this, not just the government alone. Why are people not talking about pressing charges against the management of the hospital? It could have been the patients because patients use the elevator as well.”
In 2020, the Medical Guild (@medicalguild), an association of all Lagos State Government employed Medical and Dental Doctors, tweeted at the Lagos State Ministry of Health (@LSMOH), Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Prof. Akin Abayomi (@ProfAkinAbayomi) and the Nigerian Medical Association (nmanigeria), about the disturbing state of the elevator and equipments at the doctors quarters.
“FACT: The doctors quarters at General hospital Lagos has 10 floors. It has a non functional elevator and no running water. Doctors who live on the 10th floor including pregnant women climb the stairs multiple times daily.
@LSMOH @ProfAkinAbayomi @JokeSanwoolu@ @nmanigeria”
“Are we going to wait till someone dies before things are done properly?
@drobafemihamzat @UcheAnuniru @nard_nigeria”
Unfortunately, this question in 2020, got an answer three years after. But unfortunately, it wasn’t a response to make the occupants jubilant, but one that left a bitter taste in the mouths of the family and friends of late Dr. Vwaere Diaso.
Why did it take so long for her to be rescued? Did she stand a chance if she had been rescued sooner? These are some of the questions that might go unanswered.
Speaking further on the delayed response before late Diaso was rescued, the doctor in Diaspora who pleaded anonymity, shared a harrowing experience, after being trapped in an elevator in Germany, for over one hour before help came.
“I got stuck inside the elevator and it took about one hour 30 minutes before they were able to rescue me. It happened to me, although there was no form of accident. I was running mad. You don’t know how it feels. The only thing that saved me that day was that I had my phone with me.”
“So I called my friend. I called him and said: see, you have to come now. I’m inside the elevator. There was no ventilation, I was sweating. It was serious.”
“I pressed the emergency button and someone replied but before she could take down all my details, the battery went off.”
Talking about rescue, our source added “The Engineers are usually ten minutes away but it is impossible to break into an elevator, you have to do it manually. It took the engineer another twenty minutes to get me out of there.”