In a shocking incident, All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Delhi has asked parents of a four-month-old infant, who is suffering from a hole in the heart, to come back in 2023 for the treatment.
Last week, Ram Kishore took his four-month-old daughter to the hospital for an urgent surgery, however, due to no available dates, doctors asked them to come back after five years.
“I am a poor man and I don’t have money to afford a cardiac surgery in a private hospital, but now I am helpless. To save my life (his daughter) I need to turn to some other hospital even if I need to borrow money,” the girl’s father told a leading daily.
In order to ease the burden on Delhi branch of the hospital, AIIMS was opened at six other locations in 2012. However, they’re not operating at their full strength as they don’t have even half the 305 faculty strength. According to the senior doctor of AIIMS, Rishikesh, “the pace of providing proper infrastructure, support staff and required equipment has been too slow.”
Apart from Delhi, AIIMS was opened at Patna, Bhopal, Raipur, Jodhpur, Rishikesh, and Bhubaneswar. On an average, waiting period for a patient seeking surgery is 4 years in Delhi’s AIIMS while the longest waiting periods are in paediatric surgery, neurosurgery and cardiac surgery departments.
Earlier this month, AIIMS along with some other government hospitals like Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, and GB Pant Hospital refused treatment to a nine-day-old baby suffering from acute breathing problems. According to the family, these hospitals cited unavailability of beds as the reason for not admitting the ailing child.
