New Delhi: Despite various promises of free healthcare for the poor, thousands of patients don't have roofs over their heads.
Ask seven-year-old Khushi Singh who lives with her family inside an unused toilet just outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. Suffering from a severe lung disease, she has frequent fainting spells and is often fighting to just to breathe.
"My daughter had been advised to stay away from dust and dirt but there what to do, we are helpless," said her mother Shakuntla.
Her father Radhe Shyam is battling brain tumour.
Two years ago, he sold off all his land in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh to pay for treatment. When the money ran out he took a loan. Today, they have nothing.
Three other families have made this toilet their home.
Hem Kumari has blood cancer; she and father came from Jharkhand. He has taken up a job as guard nearby but it's hardly enough. Forty five-year-old Ramrati from Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh, is waiting for a heart-valve replacement surgery date while living in this men's urinal. She has been in the capital for two weeks.
These women had come to the hospital with dreams of getting better. Now, they have nowhere to go, no money and their only accommodation is under trees or on the pavement.
And to add to their plight, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which has constructed the urinal, has asked them to vacate their make shift home. Now they are shelter less.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad called the incident "unfortunate", adding, "There is a lot of pressure on AIIMS. What started out as just a referral hospital has become one of the best facilities in India. The doctors aren't doctors but angels for treating the VIP's and the poor equally."
Ask seven-year-old Khushi Singh who lives with her family inside an unused toilet just outside the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. Suffering from a severe lung disease, she has frequent fainting spells and is often fighting to just to breathe.
"My daughter had been advised to stay away from dust and dirt but there what to do, we are helpless," said her mother Shakuntla.
Her father Radhe Shyam is battling brain tumour.
Two years ago, he sold off all his land in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh to pay for treatment. When the money ran out he took a loan. Today, they have nothing.
Three other families have made this toilet their home.
Hem Kumari has blood cancer; she and father came from Jharkhand. He has taken up a job as guard nearby but it's hardly enough. Forty five-year-old Ramrati from Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh, is waiting for a heart-valve replacement surgery date while living in this men's urinal. She has been in the capital for two weeks.
These women had come to the hospital with dreams of getting better. Now, they have nowhere to go, no money and their only accommodation is under trees or on the pavement.
And to add to their plight, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which has constructed the urinal, has asked them to vacate their make shift home. Now they are shelter less.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad called the incident "unfortunate", adding, "There is a lot of pressure on AIIMS. What started out as just a referral hospital has become one of the best facilities in India. The doctors aren't doctors but angels for treating the VIP's and the poor equally."
No comments:
Post a Comment