No where to go: Discharged from AIIMS and Safdarjung, patients take shelter in subway

NEW DELHI: Patients from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital, who were discharged due to the sudden lockdownin the wake of COVID-19, are stuck with nowhere to go. Many atients along with their families are taking shelter in the nearby subway. While two camps have been set up by the Delhi government, where patients and their families are taking shelter, more than 15 families are spending nights and days on the floor of the nclean subways.

Sarjuk Das is a resident of Bihar and had come to AIIMS to get his 40-year-old son checked who is suffering from mouth cancer. The 70-year-old along with his wife was told to vacate the premises. "When the Central government's notice came to shut the OPD, we were asked to leave. But as there was no transportation, we had nowhere to go," he said. Das kept asking for medical help stating his son's mouth has been gushing out blood. "Don't give us food but lease give apair of shirt and some cotton so that we can put some on my son's face," he added. OPD at almost all hospitals has been shut as treatment of Coronavirus patients is going on. Due to this, other patients have been left vulnerable. While some patients are from Bihar, thers are from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

12-year-old Vikas who had an operation for cancer sits on the bus stand just outside AIIMS gate number-1. While getting him ready for bath, his mother said: We have to come for oper- ation and check up from Bihar.His finger had cancer and it was removed surgically. He was still in the hospital when we were asked o move, but as all transportation was shut down, we have to stay here and have nowhere to go." She said due to her son's health, the family has not been able to leave. "I myself am not well, which is why it is not pos- sible for us to walk back home," she said. Meanwhile, the families in the subway have no food or medical facilities. Ram Kumar's daughter is in intensive care as only emergency cases are being taken up inside the hospital. "I have been waiting here ever since. We are stuck as there is no alternative," he added. The families said they wanted to move to night shel- ters but were told the capacityis full. Meanwhile, o medical staff has visited the patients.

"The medicines are too expensive and we don't have money. We are basically running from here to there," said a patient's husband. The patients are both from AIIMS and Safdarjung, and are having issues of survival. While the whole country is fighting the pandemic, the poor are left in a vulnerable situation, especially in the national capital. According to the healthministry data, cases of coronavirus have reached 979 on Saturday, while death toll has reached 25.