Replace old, defunct lifts: Health minister directs GTB Hospital

The report noted how doctors were forced to reschedule two surgeries as patients could not be brought up to the operation theatre (OT). Doctors had also claimed hospital staff had to carry a dead patient’s body on their shoulders to the ground floor due to non-functional lifts at the hospital, which is one of the Delhi government’s biggest facilities.

Addressing the issues, Singh directed that the hospital’s defunct lifts be replaced with a modern unit and made functional without further delay to avoid inconveniencing patients as well as hospital staff.

Singh further ordered the upgradation of the emergency ward with a ventilator-based monitoring system and other modern life-support equipment. The minister also issued specific instructions to make the 14 new ICU beds operational at the earliest.

Acknowledging GTB Hospital’s heavy footfall as it is near the border, he also directed Dr Vinod Kumar to establish a crowd-management plan, including clear signage, orderly patient-flow lanes, to prevent inconvenience.

The six-floor hospital with 1,000 beds sees approximately 6,000 patients per day.

The issue had come to light after officials from the hospital raised the matter with the Public Works Department (PWD) to repair the lifts.

“This is not new… We have seven lifts — at a time, only two or three work, and, sometimes, even they go out of service,” a senior resident doctor from the hospital had said earlier.