14-yr-old denied bed at 3 Delhi hospitals, dies

"...If beds aren't available, what must poor patients do? Die?"

- Soumya Pillai

These were 14-year-old Fayza Ansari's last words, captured on camera by her father, hours before she succumbed to blood cancer at AIIMS on December 5, around 9pm. For a week, her mother Raziya Ansari, 48, a housewife, ran from one government hospital to another begging for her daughter to be treated -- only to be turned away each time.

The teenager's family alleged that at least three major government facilities in the national capital Delhi government's Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI), and the centre-run Safdarjung hospital and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) -- refused treatment citing lack of medicines, beds, or equipment.

"In her last days, my daughter would scream in pain outside emergency rooms, shout at anyone who looked like a doctor or a nurse to help her. Her limbs were swollen and turned blue from blood coagulation, and her nose and ears bled," said the teenager's inconsolable mother.

On December 2, out of desperation, the family resorted to recording her deteriorating condition-swollen palms, bleeding limbs and her frail body-on video, to call for help. And help did come, but it was too late. On December 5, she was admitted at AIIMS, but died hours later.

An AIIMS spokesperson told HT that Fayza was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday. "The family did raise concerns of not finding a bed when the patient was brought to the emergency department but when this was brought to our notice, we intervened, and she was immediately admitted. Unfortunately, she did not survive," AIIMS spokesperson said.