KARACHI: City Mayor Murtaza Wahab himself witnessed the deteriorating infrastructure and depleting services of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital on Tuesday when he survived a lift fall.

The mayor, along with others, remained unhurt after the lift at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation-run health facility he was boarding with other officials malfunctioned and made a sudden descent from the fourth floor to the first floor.

All the on-board passengers, including the mayor and Deputy Mayor Salman Abdullah Murad, remained safe. However, they were stuck in the elevator for several minutes on the first floor.

The mayor had arrived at the facility to attend the opening ceremony of the Haemophilia Treatment Centre as the chief guest. The incident caused a sudden commotion in the health facility. However, the mayor kept his composure.

“The lift was overloaded with over a dozen people, including the mayor and the deputy mayor,” said a source at the hospital.

“It made a sudden descent from the fourth floor, but fortunately stopped on its own on the first floor. The hospital staff responded quickly, opening the lift doors from the outside and safely evacuating everyone.”

There was no official word from the office of the mayor on the matter.

Later, the mayor opened the haemophilia centre at the hospital and said it was first of its kind service at any public-sector hospital, said a press release. He recalled that the hospital was once in a state of neglect.

In recent years, he said, the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital was making progress as both the facilities and quality of its treatment were improving gradually.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2025