Patients wait endlessly for a doctor in AIIMS
Out of 2,000 patients visiting the hospital every day, 60% are from outstation.
of getting free medicine. But she complained that only basic medicine were provided by the hospital. She further said that her husband had not been given appointment with the doctor for the last 20 days. “No further treatment has been done till now and we have been waiting in this condition for the last 20 days to take appointment from doctors for his operation,” she said.
AIIMS officials appeared to be clueless about what to do with the patient overload. They said around 7,000 people visit the AIIMS OPD every day, and out of 2,000 patients visiting the hospital every day, 60% are outstation patients.
Meena kumari, who had come from Jogidhar, Uttar Pradesh, said her brother has a tumor but AIIMS has kept them waiting for two months. “All our money has been spent in food and accommodation as AIIMS does not provide subsidised accommodation for poor patients like us,” she said.
Neelam Kumar from Bihar, who has been diagnosed with gastro problem, has been waiting in the hospital compound as the operation is likely to cost him Rs 3 lakh. “We are hoping for some financial assistance as we don’t have so much money. The doctors here are only giving basic medicines to us,” she said.
Generally, patients are made to wait for one month to even one year before a surgery is done. There is apparently no help available for ailing patients who cannot walk into the hospital from the parking. When the patients tried to meet AIIMS spokesperson V.P.S. Chauhan, he refused to talk to them.
Aman Yadav from Patna, a relative of Savitri Sondya whose husband is suffering from cancer, said they had been lodging at the open space near the AIIMS cafeteria in the absence of proper accommodation. “We are living under the sun in this hot weather for more than 20 days. The doctors are not admitting the patient because there is no bed,” he said.
AIIMS officials said that the hospital was providing free medicines through free generic pharmacy to people from the lower income group but there was no provision for free meals.