The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi doesn’t always live up to its name as India’s finest medical facility, according to patients and their families who are forced sometimes to live on the footpaths right outside the hospital. These aren’t Delhi’s homeless people though. They are men and women who have come for treatment at AIIMS — mainly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand — and their attendants. They are here because there is no comparable public healthcare facility back home. They are too poor to afford private treatment; AIIMS is their last hope. And they are too poor to rent a place to stay in their nation’s Capital. Guaranteeing access to affordable medical care is central to the Constitution’s promise of providing for each person. Given poor or non-existent medical facilities at the village or district level, many are referred to AIIMS for procedures as simple as blood transfusions. The thousands of people who travel to Delhi for treatment here discover that AIIMS may have the country’s leading doctors, but it doesn’t have enough beds for its patients. But because of the affordable treatment available here, they make do by living a hard life in the hospital’s immediate vicinity. Despite the availability of rooms for rent for as little as Rs 50 per day in nearby Yusuf Sarai, many undergoing medical treatment are unable to afford even this. They are left to fend for themselves-unable to purchase the bare necessities such as food and water. The crippling out-of-pocket expenditure associated with medical care has left many in debt and distress.
In this crisis, a group of about 40 ladies of Sector A, Pocket B & C joined together to form a Welfare Group about 12 years back. The driving force behind this Group is Sheela Sharma (fondly called ‘Maaji”). Every Thursday of the month; this Group provides free food to more than 400 patients and their care givers /patients’ relatives at the footpaths of AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. The food is cooked by the ladies themselves in their respective houses (a common menu is decided in advance) and brought to a central point and then distributed. Please think-what are you doing for the capital city’s disadvantaged and distressed population?
