The careless attitude of the Lagos State Government to maintenance culture caused the death of a female doctor, Vwaere Diaso
Lack of maintenance culture on the part of the Lagos State government under Babajide Sanwo-Olu may have been responsible for the sudden death of a graduating medical doctor, Vwaere Diaso. This is as more evidence appears to show that the crashed elevator that collapsed on her had been left to dilapidate without the state government caring a hoot about putting it in good working condition. Consequently, the gruesome and avoidable death of the youthful Diaso has escalated the unfriendly relationship between medical doctors in Lagos State and the Sanwo-Olu-led Lagos government.
The female doctor, Diaso who graduated from the Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State and was on her House-manship died from a crashed elevator at the Lagos State General Hospital, Odan Lagos Island where she did the internship. Diaso who had only two weeks to complete her medical internship with the hospital died after the elevator crashed from the 10th floor and she was trapped in the rubbles which took almost an hour before she could be pulled out of it.
Tragedy struck Miss Diaso on Tuesday, August 1, 2023 when she was on her way to the ground floor to pick up a food delivery from a dispatch rider. Eye witness report said it took nearly an hour before the victim was evacuated from the crashed elevator and rushed to the emergency room of the General Hospital where she died. It was gathered that the crashed elevator had remained in bad shape for a long time waiting for the Lagos State Government’s attention to no avail. If help had come promptly to rescue Diaso, an eye witness said, she might not have died from the crash.
Also, reports had it that since the year 2020 the hospital elevator had remained in a dilapidated condition despite spirited calls on the government to repair it. Specifically in 2020 the Medical Guild, it was alleged, had dished out a tweet wherein it called the attention of the Lagos State Government to the tragedy that was waiting to happen, but the government had turned a blind eye on the notification.
The Medical Guild was quoted to have said in a tweet, “The doctors’ quarters at the General Hospital Lagos has 10 floors. It has a non-functional elevator and no running water.
“Doctors who live on the 10th floor including pregnant women climb the stairs multiple times daily. Are we going to wait till someone dies before things are done well?”
Since news of the incident became public, some Nigerians have taken to social media to share their experiences about the hospital, particularly the faulty elevator.
The last moments of the late Diaso was captured by one of her colleagues who narrowly escaped riding in the same elevator with her. Identified as Moye, she said she was standing in front of the elevator and pressed the open button but didn’t enter because she was on a video call.
According to her, it was not long after that when she heard a big crash to the floor which made the dispatch rider who brought food for Diaso to run out of the building.
The doctor said someone then raised the alarm that Diaso was in the elevator as the people around began seeking for help to rescue her alive. Moye said, “They tried to use rods to open it, to be sure it wasn’t a joke. They finally opened it and the sight was gruesome. Muffled sounds of excruciating pain and agony became apparent.
“Her forehead had a horizontal cut, her mouth had another one and she had raccoon eyes. She was lying in between the base of the elevator and the ground floor with the engine hanging over her head which meant any miscalculation in movement, she’ll be crushed to instant death!
“She was literally sandwiched in between the hanging engine and below the ground floor with blood on broken glasses and fractured limbs. It’s not a sight to describe,” she wrote.
Miss Diaso’s colleague also said engineers were called immediately to dismantle the elevator, however, she regretted that it took almost 40 minutes for the engineers to arrive.
She said, “I remember telling her to relax that help is coming, ‘Don’t tell me to relax, tell them to get me out of here’ Diaso replied. We eventually got her out and she kept saying she thinks she’ll die.”
“Emergency care was almost zero and inside a hospital for that matter. There was no blood in the hospital.
“She was eventually wheeled out but she was already weak and kept saying ”I don’t want to die”. They commenced CPR and the finality of it all happened.”
Moye explained that the elevator has been a source of concern to the doctors for years but complaints were never attended to.
“I remember the last time we complained they said we should manage that in their time they were sleeping in call rooms during their housemanship days and we are lucky we have water, lift and rooms to live in and we aren’t grateful.
Following Diaso’s death, a protest rocked the hospital as her colleagues besieged the premises and grounded activities there. The protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as, “I don’t want to die,” “Doctors’ lives matter,” “Justice for Vwaere,” “The system failed you, Diaso,” and “Here is Vwaere Diaso, she didn’t have to die for us to get it right.”
Diaso’s protesting colleagues shut the hospital’s main gate, the health service commission’s gate, and the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital’s gate.
They expressed displeasure over the death of their colleague while accusing the hospital management of negligence.
A physician, Olanrewaju Ayepola, who took to her social media page while lamenting the incident, said she was aggrieved because complaints had been made about the elevator.
“I’m so angry because they have been complaining about this elevator for years. Even when I go visit my friend, more than two people can’t go in it and if it stops at the sixth floor, you have to use your hands to close it yourself and step back behind a line to even out your weight. All she wanted to do was get her food from a dispatcher downstairs. It even took them an hour to get her out of the elevator.
“She was still conscious even with fractures, she was taken to the emergency and then another delay – no blood. This country failed her,” Ayepola tweeted.
Reacting to Diaso’s death, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Lagos branch, has directed medical doctors in three government hospitals on Lagos Island to embark on an indefinite strike
A statement jointly signed by the Chairman and Secretary of NMA in the State, Dr Benjamin Olowojebutu and Dr Ajibowo Ismail, on Wednesday, August 2, 2023 said the decision was in protest of the death of the female doctor killed by an elevator crash.
NMA directed the doctors at the General Hospital, Odan; Lagos Island Maternity Hospital and Massey Street Children’s Hospital to embark on the strike until investigations into the cause of the death were concluded and justice served.
“The information we got was that she was trapped in the elevator for more than 40 minutes before she was rescued.
“We were also reliably informed that there was no blood available for resuscitation, and this has become a recurring issue as a result of the review made by the Government on the previous policy on blood donation.
“To us, this was an avoidable death and it’s unfortunate that it was allowed to happen. We are pained and we are mourning.
“We are well aware that this same elevator has been a source of problem for many years during which several complaints had been made to all relevant agencies with no respite.
“It is very painful that at a time when the country is battling with unprecedented brain drain, a young colleague that would have been expected to attend to 6,000 Nigerians was allowed to die a needless death,” the statement read
The NMA called for an immediate and unbiased investigations into the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident and urged “That all those found culpable in this matter, especially the General Manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure Management Agency, Ms Adenike Adekambi, are all brought to justice.”
NMA also directed all the doctors in other government hospitals in the State to scale down activities as a mark of respect for their dead colleague.
“Only emergency services should be rendered for the next five days,” it added.
The association appealed to the Government to urgently begin an overhaul of the house officers’ quarters on the Island and repair the infrastructure in all government hospitals that needed attention.
