India, Nov. 12 -- Four months after the lift in the stand-alone orthopaedic building of Mumbai's largest civic run hospital stopped working, patients with fractures, spinal injuries and other orthopaedic ailments continue to take the stairs, many climbing three floors, for consultation and treatment.

Stretchers and wheelchairs serve no purpose at KEM Hospital's Seth Dhurmal Bajaj Orthopaedic Centre and Research Institute. Some say they have seen patients being carried up the stairs. Besides, patients and others need to frequently visit the main hospital building for medical tests, to collect reports and buy medicines, again forcing them to use the stairs.

Apart from the orthopaedics department, the three-storey building also houses the ...