VEREENIGING.- A Kopanong Hospital elevator allegedly got stuck for approximately two hours with patient visitors and a staff member over the weekend.

It is said that the elevator ‘jammed’ on the ground floor when it was supposed to take family members to the floors where they were supposed to see their loved ones.

Apparently, there was no ventilation in the elevator for the time it was stuck, and those inside the elevator had to compromise to ‘make air’, and some people even had panic attacks. Those who were stuck in the elevator allegedly had to wait from 14:30 to 16:44 for a standby mechanic, who was said to be coming from Pretoria, to fix the lift.

This, Sedibeng Ster is told, is an occurrence that has become a norm at the hospital (for the elevator/s to jam from time to time).

“Calls were made to family members, and we also had to personally call the elevator company, which said that their standby guy will travel from Pretoria to come and help. We are lucky that something bad did not happen to us while we were trapped inside, otherwise you would be writing a different story”, said a source who was inside the stuck elevator.

“What we want is answers, what happened, why did it happen, why has the hospital been left in such a state of neglect, why did we have to wait for a technician from Pretoria to come and help us, are there no people around here who can do the job?”

An employee at the hospital confirmed the regular ‘jamming’ of the elevator/s.

“This is nothing new; it happens all the time. There are worse things you can report about; we are used to that,” she said.

Sedibeng Ster has sent an enquiry to the Gauteng Department of Health.