Outrage As Korle Bu Elevator Fails Patients For Half A Year

One out of two elevators at the Maternity Block and Surgical Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra have not been functioning for six months now, causing inconvenience to patients and visitors.

The one which is working could stop for three days and during this, nurses have no option than to help patients climb to any of the floors of the six-storey block.

Onua News’ Akua Sarpomaa during a visit observed that, both the Maternity Ward and Surgical Departments have two elevators each, of which one each is working.

Investigations revealed that the two that are not working at all, broke down over six months ago, while the ones that are working are not functioning effectively.

Nurse and patients grappling with the malfunctioning elevator

According to Onua News sources, the ones that are working have developed fault and could sometimes stop working for days.

When this happens, patients are either carried on stretchers or be helped by nurses to climb to other floors.

Those who have a little strength are compelled to climb the stairs, making life difficult for them.

One nurse told Onua News that “This our lift is stressing us too much. The other one is not working for over 6 months and the one working always malfunctioning. Sometimes it doesn’t work and we the nurses have to help the patients to climb the stairs”.

Management members (name withheld) of the hospital who chose to remain anonymous, explained that “the elevators are very weak and need to be changed. The cost involved is huge and the hospital cannot bear the cost”.

“Apart from the elevators, the hospital is in need of a lot of things, but it seems the government is not ready to come to our aid,” one added.