‘Diaso’s Life Could Have Been Saved If Facility Managers Were Prepared For Emergencies’— Colleague Of Doctor Who Died In Lagos Hospital Elevator Crash Opens Up

A colleague of the female doctor who died in the Lagos Island General Hospital elevator crash has revealed that there was enough time to save Dr. Vwaera Diaso.

Joy Altuobhokha made the disclosure on Wednesday during an interview on Arise TV, monitored by THE WHISTLER.

Altoubhokha was a coursemate and friend of Diaso in medical school at Babcock University before they were employed at the General Hospital in Lagos.

Diaso died on Tuesday 1 August 2023, in the elevator crash when she was going to the ground floor of the hospital to receive her meal from a dispatch rider.

But contrary to Lagos State Government’s claim that she was wheeled to the emergency room and was immediately attended to by a medical team led by a highly experienced consultant orthopedic and trauma surgeon, Altuobhokha said the hospital was not proactive to rescue her.

The incident occurred at 6:50 pm and the deceased was rescued at 7:50 pm before being announced clinically dead at 8:13 pm.

Aituobhokha said the last 1 hour 23 minutes of Daiso’s life was joked with.

She said, “Daiso was still very much alive when this crash happened, there was so much time to save Daiso, this crash happened and immediately it happened then we talk about a gap in maintenance.

“So ideally, in a structure that is 10 floors, there should be direct contact if something happens, we should be able to hold a particular company and say please come down to the General Hospital there has been a problem and we see a huge number of engineers come on the ground and get into work.

“We see that the facility manager claimed to have made certain calls and no one was showing up at that time. Eventually, some people came from the company whom we are not aware, came to the place and there was back and forth and you could clearly see that they were aware of the next step.

“The clinic management was informed, and you would expect an emergency response, oxygen should have been right there by that elevator, and all mechanisms should have already been put in place, even while she was taken to the emergency ward, we were running around, for oxygen, cannula, there was no preparation to save her.

“The impression the Lagos Government is putting out is that immediate medication was given to her, this is not true.

“If a lift crashes, they should know what they are supposed to do. There was an experience gap, so it was like they were trying to figure it out on the ground there. So, Lagos Island Maternity is across the road from the general hospital. There is a lift there and I don’t want to say the funny thing is that the lift also has glitches as well, that is a lift where pregnant women get into, that is a lift where people from surgery are willed into.”

She revealed that before the incident, members of staff at the hospital have made both written and verbal complaints over a five-year period.

Aituobhokha also narrated the difficulties they face in the hospital. According to her, they have to lift water from the ground floor to the seventh floor.

She said, “I started working here in 2021, before I came, I had seniors from Babcock University who work there as early as 2019 and during their time the lift was not functional, and this is a building with 10 floors.

“So, house officers were made to work, so you come back from work let’s say you work throughout the day and probably you were on a call most time of the night, you will have to walk several floors to get to your room, get amenities and all of that.

“Also, there was the light and water issue and so we were made to carry buckets of water throughout those floors down and all this necessitated our repeated complaints that the lift has to be functional.

“Two months after I resumed, they repaired one, however, it stopped and ee immediately raised the alarm about it and told them that whatever have being done here wasn’t done properly, several letters were written, and complaints were laid officially and unofficially.”