Himachal HC flags defunct lifts at Govt hospitals, seeks detailed report
Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh High Court has taken suo motu cognisance following a complaint highlighting that elevators in several state-run hospitals are lying defunct, causing significant hardship to patients.
The matter, brought to the attention of the Chief Justice, has raised serious questions over the government’s efforts to provide top-tier medical infrastructure in public health facilities. Acting on the matter, the court has added the Chief Secretary, Health Secretary, Director of Health Services, Kasumpti, and the Chief Medical Officer of Deendayal Hospital in Shimla as respondents, reports Hindustan Times.
Issuing a notice for December 29, the bench directed the Health Secretary to submit an affidavit including details regarding how many government hospitals in the state are multi-storeyed and whether these institutions have operational lifts available for patients to use. The court’s intervention aims to assess the extent of the problem and ensure that necessary steps are taken to address patient inconvenience stemming from non-functional hospital elevators, reports The Daily.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Jiya Lal Bhardwaj considered the case and stated, “The issue herein is regarding old persons and infirm patients not being allowed to use the lifts in government hospitals.” The HC bench considered the representation that it has received, and found that while one lift in the hospital is specially reserved for staff and doctors, the only lift kept for the general public is not even functional.
The representation clarified that the lift, which is used by the doctors and staff, is operational, but the lift reserved for public use is non-operational, creating a problem for elderly and physically weak patients, as they are compelled to climb multiple floors to access medical services.
