Lying in the unclean underpass, they wait day after day, night after night, for their turn at treatment. For some, the wait stretches on. For others, time may be running out.
But these families have nowhere else to turn. Because of its subsidised costs, aIIMS is not just any government hospital, for many, it is their last hope, offering treatment they can afford.
Fifteen-year-old Tanvi from Rajasthan’s Kota , who had a congenital heart defect, died on Tuesday at AIIMS. Her father, Mukesh Pariyani, alleged that despite surgery being discussed and dates being given and later changed, the procedure never took place, and that the family had been waiting for years. For Naushad Khan from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, the wait lasted one and a half years. His son, who has a brain tumour, finally underwent surgery a month ago. “We have been taking treatment here for the last two years. The issue is waiting for our number for surgery. We waited for one-and-a-half years for his surgery. My son has a brain tumour. We didn’t have money for private treatment, so the only option was to wait. His five-year-old, meanwhile, tussles with his mother, crying of boredom in the Rain Basera, a night shelter for the homeless, located in Yusuf Sarai. For Sangeeta Devi from Bihar, getting a date has meant repeated waits. “We came last August. They gave us a date, but then it didn’t happen. Then we got a date after three months. We have to stay here for treatment. My elder son’s brain tumour treatment was also done here. Her son has just undergone a complex orthopaedic surgery.
Because of her complex cardiac anatomy, and she was managed medically instead, aIIMS, however, has said Tanvi was diagnosed with ventricular septal defect (VSD) with pulmonary atresia in 2012 and evaluated for surgery in 2013, but by 2018 doctors had concluded that surgery was not feasible. AIIMS said she was later admitted on 24 August for evaluation for a possible heart-lung transplant, and underwent an endoscopy, but suffered a hypoxic episode followed by cardiac arrest and died on Tuesday.
However, the treatment here is very good,” he said. Getting dates is a little difficult, but the treatment is good,” she said.
