Patients awaiting AIIMS treatment suffer on roads

Spiking pollution levels and dipping temperatures are proving to be a double whammy for patients from across the country who come for treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, as they are confined to footpaths and pavements outside due to unaffordable rentals for accommodations.

- Ridhima Gupta

Thirty-eight-year-old Mohamad Shabaz, who came from Chapra in Bihar, was diagnosed with blood cancer three months ago. He came with his wife to Delhi on November 4 and they have been sleeping at the underpass outside AIIMS. "We were told that there was no bed and we will have to wait till there is a vacant one. We have no option but to wait," he said.