For Many Families, AIIMS Is the Last Stop — and the Wait Can Be Brutal
Families camp near AIIMS Delhi for months, even years, hoping for subsidised surgery. A teenager's death highlights the cost of waiting.
For hundreds of families, the pavements and night shelters around the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi have become temporary homes. They arrive from distant states, carrying medical files and fading hopes, waiting for a turn at treatment that they cannot afford anywhere else.
AIIMS is not just another government hospital. Its heavily subsidised care makes it the only realistic option for many poor patients. But that affordability comes with a price: long queues, repeated appointments, and waits that can stretch into years.
The story of 15-year-old Tanvi from Kota, Rajasthan, illustrates the stakes. She had a congenital heart defect and died at AIIMS on Tuesday. Her father, Mukesh Pariyani, alleged that surgery was discussed and dates were given and then changed, but the procedure never happened. The hospital, however, said Tanvi was diagnosed with ventricular septal defect with pulmonary atresia in 2012. By 2018, doctors concluded that surgery was not feasible due to her complex cardiac anatomy, and she was managed medically. She was admitted on 24 August for evaluation for a possible heart-lung transplant, but suffered a hypoxic episode followed by cardiac arrest.
Others speak of waits measured in months, not days. Naushad Khan from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, waited one and a half years for his son's brain tumour surgery, which finally took place a month ago. "We didn't have money for private treatment, so the only option was to wait," he said, sitting in a Yusuf Sarai night shelter where his five-year-old son, bored and restless, tussled with his mother.
Sangeeta Devi from Bihar has made the journey multiple times. Her elder son was treated at AIIMS for a brain tumour. Now her younger son has undergone complex orthopaedic surgery. "They gave us a date, but then it didn't happen. Then we got a date after three months," she said, describing the cycle of hope and postponement.
Despite the hardships, families express faith in the quality of care. "The treatment here is very good," Khan said. For now, they continue to wait — in underpasses, on shelter floors, and in queues — because for them, AIIMS remains the last door that opens.