Relief For Patients, Kin Out In The Cold

AIIMS Announcement To Resume Routine In-Patient Admissions To Spell End Of Long Wait

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Kamlesh Ram has come from Garhwa, Jharkhand, and is stuck with his wife and seven-year-old son at the shelter home since November; Braving rain and cold, several other families have been spending days in the subway connecting AIIMS and Safdarjung while they wait for their turn

New Delhi: For the past four days, Mamta Devi has been spending day and night braving the chill in the subway connecting premier AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital. Wrapped in a blanket that she had carried from home in Saharsa district in Bihar, Devi awaits news about her husband's heart surgery.

"I am managing the cold somehow,” she smiled. “We came in a hurry and didn't have time to look for accommodation and we found the dharamshalas costly. A few locals told us that patients and families make do in the subway, and that is how I came here. Of course, toilets and hygiene are problems, but what can we do?”