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Authorities conduct repair work of defunct lifts at district hospital after HT reports
The ADH caters to hundreds of patients daily and neglects the repair and maintenance of its lifts, leaving patients at the receiving end
PUNE: In a huge relief to thousands of patients and their relatives visiting the Aundh District Hospital (ADH), the authorities on Monday started repair work on defunct lifts at the hospital. Two out of four defunct elevators were repaired on Monday while maintenance on the remaining lifts is underway, the officials said.
The ADH caters to hundreds of patients daily and neglects the repair and maintenance of its lifts, leaving patients at the receiving end. For the past few months out of the four lifts, only one lift was operational, which regularly reported breakdowns. Earlier this week the lone lift faced a breakdown on Wednesday evening around 5.30 p.m. which led to a delay in food distribution to indoor patients. The dinner to indoor patients is given regularly at 6.00 p.m. but was distributed by 8.30 pm as the hospital staff could not carry the huge bulk of food on the upper floors due to the defunct lift.
HT highlighted the issue on October 14 about the plight of the patients, staff and visitors in a news article titled, ‘Lifts at Aundh district hospital defunct since past few months, patients & kin facing hardships. Taking the cognisance of reports the authorities swung into action.
Nagnath Yempalay, district civil surgeon and head of ADH, said, the repair work of the lifts was started on Monday and two lifts have been made operational. Out of these two lifts one lift was shut down for a long time and the other reported frequent breakdowns.
“The repair work of the remaining two lifts is underway and hopefully will be completed in a few days,” he said.
Sharad Shetty, health activist, said, the situation at the government hospitals is contrary to the claims of the government.
“The government claims to strengthen the public health sector and provide better medical facilities but fails to maintain existing facilities and amenities. Hope the lifts remain functional in future and the maintenance is conducted regularly.”
Dr Yempalay is unhappy about the response received from the electrical department of the Public Work Department (PWD) who is responsible for conducting the repair and maintenance of the lifts at ADH.
“We are going to take up the issue with the district collector Rajesh Deshmukh in the meeting scheduled for Tuesday, October 17. Because of the delay from the PWD, the patients suffer and the image of the Public Health Department and ADH is tarnished,” he said.
