12-year-old patient suffers burns outside AIIMS

NEW DELHI: Suffering from a congenital spinal disorder that has resulted in a disabling deformity, 12-year-old Rahul can be found shivering in the cold outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Out on the streets for over a fortnight awaiting admission in the hospital, the boy suffered burn injuries on his legs by a bonfire lit up by his poor parents to provide him some warmth on Monday, rated as one of the coldest days in Delhi.
Hundreds like Rahul are battling the cold despite two night shelters and AIIMS dharamshalas with space for about 700 inmates. His family went to the shelters but found them overcrowded and ill-equipped to the medical needs of patients like him.
AIIMS appears to be clueless about what to do with the patient overload and has thrown up figures to show the surge in people seeking treatment. Around 8,000 people visit the AIIMS OPD and 2,000 are admitted on any given day of which, officials claim, 60% are outstation patients.
“We feel strongly about the patients and their relatives lying on the pavement outside the institute in this bitter cold. But I must admit that any temporary infrastructure cannot suffice for huge demand for shelter by outstation patients,” said Dr Amit Gupta, AIIMS spokesperson.
For children like Rahul, a villager from Rajasthan, AIIMS continues to be their last hope. Interestingly, the 12-year-old boy has found moral support in a group of street children from Badhte Kadam associated with the NGO Childhood Enhancement Through Education & Training (CHETNA) who spotted him with the burns crying in agony.
Rahul told them that he has been outside AIIMS since November 22. Rahul studied till Class V but had to drop out of school due to his disorder. The family is surviving on food being distributed to beggars and homeless. “I am a casual labourer at a construction site in Rajasthan. For the last two months I have not earned a single penny as we have been outside AIIMS hoping for my son’s relief,” said Komal Singh, the child’s father.
The waiting period for surgeries at AIIMS ranges between a month and two years. NGOs claim that nearly 200-300 patients are waiting on the pavements outside AIIMS and Safdarjung in this biting cold. This including severely ill patients waiting for surgery. A large number of these comprise cancer patients waiting for chemotherapy sessions.