AIIMS asks woman suffering from heart condition to wait till 2025

LUCKNOW: Nasreen, 31, of Meerut, is a heart patient for 10 years and has been visiting AIIMS (Delhi) for quite some time now.

“In July this year, I got the shock of my life when doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi said no dates were available for my heart surgery till 2025,” she claimed.

“The last time I visited AIIMS was on July 7. Doctors said surgery is a must, but there is a long waiting list till 2025,” she said.

A resident of Ahmadnagar (Meerut), Nasreen suffers from mitral valve prolapse.

“Doctors at AIIMS had suggested operation in 2015 and also gave some medicine. I had arranged Rs 70, 000 for the operation,” said her husband Shahzad, a daily wager.

“We are ready for the operation but now doctors say it will take six years for her turn. We can’t afford surgery in other hospitals, especially private ones,” he said.

According to him, doctors wrote on the registration slip that the waiting list is till 2025 and Nasreen could try in other government hospitals.

Shahzad further said, “I am a daily wager and it is not possible for me to consult other doctors. I was told that AIIMS is among the country’s best hospitals, but six years is a long period.”

“Six years is a long time…I don’t know what will happen to me before that,” lamented Nasreen.

Ironically, the family is not covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. When asked about it, Shahzad said, “I am not aware of it. No one told us about that.”