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Elevator accident: NMA panel finds elevator unfit for use

A panel set up by the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has found that the elevator which caused the death of Dr. Vwaere Diaso was unfit for use.

The report submitted to the President of NMA, Dr Benjamin Olowojebutu, in Lagos on Wednesday, stated that the elevator “ought not to have been put to use to avoid endangering lives.”

Recall that the association had constituted an 11-man panel made up of doctors, lawyers and engineers, chaired by Saheed Babajide to probe the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Diaso.

In the report, the panel found that the two elevators were faulty and the doctor had fallen from the 10th floor.

The committee then recommended that: “Following the standards of Lagos State Safety Commission, we recommend that hospital assets be maintained and serviced by the hospital management to avoid needless bureaucracy and such assets should be certified annually by competent professionals.

“Upon commissioning of assets or technical equipment, the operators of the equipment must be adequately trained and retrained on safety and proper operation and handling of emergencies.

“Routine safety drills should be conducted by safety officers for all staff.”

It was further recommended that the house officers’ quarters at General Hospital Odan, Lagos should be named after the late doctor, to immortalise her.

The NMA President Dr Olowojebutu told newsmen, after receiving the report presentation that the death of their member, would not be swept under the carpet.

“For us at the Nigerian Medical Association, the reason why we have made this an important part of our duty is that if something has been bad for that long and nothing had been done and it took the life of our doctor to make things happen, I feel/think it’s very preventable. It’s just common sense, put a slab on it and say ‘Do not use’, it’s just common sense”, he said.

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