The lives of pregnant women in need of emergency attention at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital are in danger as they are compelled to climb staircase to access the Maternity Ward.

Five out of eight elevators at the old 'G' Block have broken down, exposing patients to danger.

Doctors at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Directorate say more pregnancy-related complications are being recorded due to the present situation.

The nineteen-year old elevators have been down for about two months now.

Nhyira News checks reveal management of the hospital spends between 90, 000 and 100 thousand annually to maintain the lifts; with each elevator breaking down again at an interval of two weeks after repair.

Some operators have suffered the scary and unpleasant risk of being trapped in the elevator.

Pregnant women endure effects of the broken down equipment as they seek emergency services.

They have had to put their lives on the line, as they delay in reaching care givers.

 Thirty -eight year old Stella Mensah went through pain when she was referred to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital from the Suntreso Hospital.

Unluckily for Stella, she had no option but to use the staircase after had endured the agony of waiting for several minutes for an ambulance.

Thanks to doctors, the visibly shaking Stella who struggled to speak to Nhyira News on her hospital bed has had her condition classified as emergency case saved.

Doctors at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Directorate have had to work extra hard to safe emergency situations which developed complications having delayed before reaching caregivers.

Their lucky patients have to rely on elevators at the B- Block or D-Block before they are brought before them, a situation which delay healthcare service delivery, the resultant effect being some patients developing complications.

Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology Directorate, Professor Archer Turpin who is worried  the situation wants prompt action to address the challenge.

” People coming to the department most of them are pregnant; most of them are in labour. Some of them have been referred from other hospitals with emergencies like ectopic pregnancies, ruptured uterus, people who are bleeding and people with pregnancy complications. And these women cannot use the staircases to get to the wards. If the lifts are not working, it means they have to access the lifts in other departments in order to get to the A-Block and imagine that you need minutes to intervene to save the lives of these individuals.

Some of the cases that come, we label them as near misses”. Worried Prof

But it appears there is no solution in sight, at least, not immediately as hospital relies on philanthropists for support.

Head of Technical Services, George Tetteh appealed to government and philanthropists for support.

“Even though we are trying to maintain them [elevators] by replacing some faulty parts, when they are replaced, maximum two to three weeks they break down again and we need to spend money in repairing them”. Mr Tetteh lamented.