The lift in the trauma care building at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, in which Arup Banerjee was trapped and crushed to death on Friday morning, had no recent reports of malfunction, hospital officials said.
Banerjee, 41, was at RG Kar for his four-year-old son’s surgery when the lift allegedly developed a glitch that led to his death.
A senior official from the state health department said that while the lifts are maintained by the PWD, payments for their annual maintenance contracts are made by the state health department.
“We have sought a report from the PWD on this incident,” the official said.
Police investigations found that a Salt Lake-based company contracted to install and maintain this lift also manages two more lifts in the same building. The remaining 29 lifts in the hospital are maintained by different companies, sources said.
“This particular lift is 14 years old and, according to records, had not reported any glitch in the recent past. We are now reviewing older maintenance records with the PWD,” a senior Kolkata Police officer said.
Sources said that the lift is a traction lift, installed in 2012 and handed over to hospital authorities in 2013.
Traction lifts, compared with hydraulic lifts, are faster and more advanced, said a senior official from a lift manufacturing company.
“Hydraulic lifts are generally limited to homes and smaller buildings. Traction lifts are far more effective and modern,” he said.
A PWD official said that tenders are floated as per protocol, and different companies are selected for the installation and maintenance of lifts at the hospital.
The newspaper contacted one of the owners of the company responsible for the three lifts in the trauma care building.
“There is an interlocking system in our lifts. It will stop operation if any glitch in the machine occurs. Our engineers visited the spot to inspect the lift and found nothing abnormal. Our (company’s) name is being dragged unnecessarily,” the owner said.
Sources in the police said that engineers from the company were summoned to Tala police station for questioning. No arrests were made by late Friday evening.
However, several junior doctors at RG Kar noted recurring issues with hospital lifts. “We often get stuck in lifts. This is not new. The lift operators are absent most of the time,” one junior doctor said.
On Friday, hospital authorities announced that lifts will no longer operate without an operator inside.
“Notices will be put up instructing people not to use lifts without an operator,” said medical superintendent and vice-principal Saptarshi Chatterjee. He added that the hospital has 32 lifts and is coordinating with the PWD electrical department to ensure operators are stationed in each lift.