Operator beaten at only working lift at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: A lift attendant at Gandhi Hospital was assaulted by relatives of a patient when he refused to let them in as there were already 10 people in the lift.
At 11 am, relatives of patient G. Laxmi, asked to be taken to the fifth floor.

When lift operator P. Ramesh, asked them to wait, one of them hit him on his face, leading to an altercation between Gandhi Hospital staff and the relatives.
The hospital has eight floors in the main wing that witnesses heavy rush during peak hours, from 10 am to 2 pm.

Following the incident, para-medical and administration staff stopped working for two hours. Police was called in and P. Laxmaiah, the person who had hit the lift attendant, was counselled at the station.

According to the police, he was anxious as he was in a hurry to meet the doctors who would be attending to the patient. He had been waiting in queue for 20 minutes. Only one lift was working and he became agitated when he could not enter when his turn came.

There are 14 lifts in Gandhi Hospital but only one of them works. Ironically, in November 2015, health minister Laxma Reddy had visited the hospital and asked the contractor to install new lifts. A senior administrative officer said, “Till date the situation is the same. The contractor is taking his own time to change the lifts.”

Gandhi Hospital superintendent Dr J.V. Reddy said, “The contractor has been asked to expedite the works. Presently, one new lift has been installed and the others will be done soon.”