Boy born in a malfunctioning lift

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Woman delivers her first born while being trapped for almost an hour inside a Sarawak General Hospital lift

Firemen paying a visit to Zuraidah and her newborn son at SGH yesterday.

Firemen paying a visit to Zuraidah and her newborn son at SGH yesterday.

KUCHING: The incident of a young mother delivering her baby while being trapped inside an elevator for nearly an hour at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) early Thursday morning could have been avoided if the lifts were serviced regularly.

Assistant Minister for Public Health Datuk Dr Jerip Susil said the six lifts at SGH were all over-used, resulting in the lifts breaking down from time to time.

“The lifts have been breaking down quite often due to over usage; hence, the company responsible for maintaining the elevators should be aware of the problem and service them regularly. If the lifts are found to be too old, they should be replaced to avoid similar incidents from recurring,” he said when contacted yesterday.

First-time mum Zuraidah Naskim, 18, from Sadong Jaya, was making her way to the delivery ward on the fourth floor of the hospital with two accompanying nurses when the incident happened around 3.50am.

The unnerving wait ended around 4.45am when maintenance workers used a designated key to open the doors of the malfunctioning lift. By that time, Zuraidah had already given birth to a baby boy weighing about 2.5 pounds with the assistance of the two nurses.

Before the maintenance crew arrived, personnel from the state Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) were summoned to the scene. State Bomba assistant director (Operations) Farhan Sufyan Borhan said yesterday his men resorted to partially prying open the elevator doors after those trapped inside complained of poor ventilation.

“We were initially only told that there were people trapped inside the elevator. We had no idea that a heavily pregnant woman was inside until we arrived at the scene. By then, she had already delivered her child.”

Farhan added that this was the second time this year that firemen were called to SGH to attend to people trapped inside its elevator. The first case was on Jan 9, on the eighth floor.

He also said several Bomba personnel paid a visit to the new mother and her son at the hospital yesterday, bringing along a gift for the newborn infant.