4- YO leg gets trapped in collapsible grill elevator door

Mumbai: In an unfortunate incident, a four-year-old minor’s leg got trapped in a damaged elevator resulting in deep injuries to his leg.

Devansh had to undergo four surgeries including a skin grafting procedure, to save his foot after his leg got stuck in a damaged collapsible grille door of an Ulhasnagar housing society’s elevator in Mumbai, TOI reports.

It will further take three more months for him to walk again but his family worries for his other health issues as he also has G6PD (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) deficiency, due to which he cannot be administered certain medicines, and has to be monitored.

“I cannot put behind the horrific memory of the mishap. While my son was screaming in pain, I had to yank his foot out from the grille,” said his mother Disha.

The housing society and the lift contractors both are responsible for the incident and should pay the damages done to the boy.

The Bombay Lifts Act in the state has made it mandatory for the PWD to inspect lifts twice every year but it still goes unchecked leading to such accidents.

Disha was taking Devansh and his twin, Dipika, for classes at Ratan Garden society in Ulhasnagar on February 16. The children and their mother entered the elevator to head to the third floor around 11.30am. Devansh was not keen on going and was throwing a tantrum.

“The lower portion of the grille door was broken. When the lift cabin was moving between the first and second floors, Devansh’s leg got caught in the lower portion. The lift continued to move upwards, dragging his leg,” Disha added.

The kid was then immediately rushed to a local hospital, but was referred to Bhatia Hospital at Grant Road.

“Devansh was brought in an emergency. He had lost a lot of blood and had severely injured his right lower leg and foot with an exposed ankle joint. There was an associated fracture of the leg bone with cut tendons. There was also a severe crush injury to the skin and soft tissues of his right ankle and foot. On the same day, we carried out an emergency procedure to remove dead tissues. We repaired the cut tendons, reduced the fracture and reconstructed the ankle joint, covering it with a local muscle flap. VAC (vacuum assisted closure) dressing was applied on the wound. The system includes a foam dressing that is connected to a pump which provides suction to drain fluids from the wound, reduces bacterial load and helps control infection,” said Dr Shailesh Ranade, a plastic surgeon with the hospital.

Devansh underwent skin graft on March 7 and was discharged after four days of observation.

His leg will remain in plaster for six weeks. The Jeswanis may approach the consumer forum against the lift’s maintenance agency.

The Bombay Lifts Act is more than 71 years old and is mandated to be followed.

RTI activist Mohammad Afzal, who had filed a PIL on elevator safety a decade ago, said, “Public Works Department (PWD) had given a written assurance to the high court that the Act would be amended. A draft was prepared but I was later informed that the files had got destroyed in a Mantralaya fire in 2012. The amendment is the need of the hour.”