Water and shade luxuries at busy hospitals

At the emergency department nearby, there is a small shade that barely contains all the patients waiting on gurneys awaiting their turn.

With a torrid heat wave sweeping across Delhi, space is at a premium under the cluster of trees near the entrance gate of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) as patients and their families seek refuge from the scorching sun.

Every day, around 12,000-15,000 patients visit AIIMS’s outpatient clinics. Along with their relatives, the daily footfall at the hospital is nearly 50,000. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

The two waiting halls outside the Rajkumari Amrit Kaur OPD block are reserved for patients with an appointment in the medicine or paediatrics department, so the others just wait their turn out in the open.

“We were told that the hall is only for patients in the medicine department, I am here for the treatment of my sister-in-law. So, we are waiting under the tree here like everyone else. There are long queues to get to the clinic and then for medicines and tests, we have to wait. We come here because the treatment is the best,” said Satendra Singh, who took the Metro from Noida to bring his sister-in-law for treatment at AIIMS.

The ones who could not find space under the cluster of trees, sat under smaller trees that barely kept the sun out.

At the emergency department nearby, there is a small shade that barely contains all the patients waiting on gurneys awaiting their turn.

The maximum temperature on Friday was recorded at 44.8 degrees Celsius while the minimum stayed at 28.4 degrees, said Met department. According to the Indian Meteorological Department forecast, there will no respite for the people of Delhi in the days ahead either, with the weather conditions likely to remain the same till next Wednesday.

“It is so hot here, but we are poor and we do not have the option of going to private hospitals. At least we can stand in the shade, my wife is standing outside the barricade in the sun because only one person is allowed with one patient,” said Prempal Singh, whose son is under treatment for leukaemia at AIIMS and had to be rushed to the emergency as his red blood cell count was very low.

Every day, around 12,000-15,000 patients visit the AIIMS outpatient clinics, along with their relatives the daily footfall at the hospital is nearly 50,000. To ensure that all people coming to the hospital get potable, cold drinking water AIIMS got 33 new water coolers in January this year, increasing the hospital’s drinking water capacity by 36%.

Outside the gate, the sun has driven away many of the vendors selling plastic file covers for prescriptions, slippers, clothes, and food. The only ones doing business under large umbrellas are the two men with water carts, man selling peanuts and one selling ice-cream.

The vendors outside Safdarjung hospital are more organised and are doing business under huge tarpaulins, but patients have to seek refuge under palm trees outside the newly constructed Emergency Block. For others, the corridors between building provide respite from the sun.

Sitting under a car-parking shed near the hospital gate, Rajkali said that she could not find cold water to quench her thirst anywhere in the hospital. “I have been coming to this hospital for 30 years, everyone in my family gets treatment here. In all these years, fancy buildings have come up, but they could not even make provisions for cold water? How can someone quench their thirst with this hot water? I am just waiting for my husband to get back so we can go home,” she said. She has asthma and came to the hospital for a check-up after she had difficulty breathing.

“There is adequate spaces with shade for the relatives of the patients, there are proper waiting areas in the newer wings of the hospital. Apart from that we have increased the garden area and put more benches for people. Additional water coolers were also installed in all our building last year,” said an official from Safdarjung hospital.

At RML hospital, the frequency of refilling the coolers has been increased. “We have increased the frequency of refilling the water coolers. Apart from that, we have put up shades where relatives of patients can wait,” said Dr VK Tiwari, medical superintendent of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.

For people who had travelled to Lok Nayak Hospital near Delhi gate, there was no waiting area after OPD hours.