The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

The waiting sufferers outside AIIMS: Medicare
gone awry?
Rohit Wadhwaney

New Delhi, March 19
Mr Shambu Nath, 73, has been waiting outside the OPD of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for nearly a week to get himself treated for Malaria. He sleeps on the pavement outside the department hoping that his turn might come the next day.

Mr Nath came all the way from Sakatpura, a small village in Rajasthan about 110 km from the Capital, after the ‘vaid’ (a traditional doctor in villages) in his village told him to head for Delhi for treatment.

“It has been a week. And my turn for treatment has still not come,” he said as he shivered with high fever. “I came with the hope that with so many doctors in this big hospital, there would be somebody to ease my pain. But the pain is growing by the minute.”

Mr Nath’s wife, Shanti, who accompanied him from their village, said it was a shame that people were dying outside such a big hospital. “I feel very sad while a few doctors inside might be saving lives at this very moment, we here are outside along with so many other patients suffering,” she said. And she followed it up with the stark truth: “By the time his (Nath’s) turn comes, he might be dead.”

Mr Nath and Shanti are not the only ones living on the pavements outside the premier government hospital of the city. There is a long queue of patients suffering from various ailments waiting to get the first check up.

Fourteen-year-old Jaggan is one of them. “He is suffering from hepatitis-B and his condition is fast deteriorating,” his mother Usha Devi said. “It has been five days today and we haven’t even been able to get a doctor to check him,” Mrs Devi, who hails from a village at the far end of Gurgaon, said. Her husband and three-year-old daughter have also joined them on the pavement.

“We sold a piece of land to get the money we might have required for Jaggan’s treatment. But the effort seems to have been a waste when not a single doctor can attend him,” she said.

Just a walk around the AIIMS reveals the number of patients who remain neglected. Most of them have made the complex’s pavements their home. They cook, eat, drink and sleep right there on their bed sheets.

“We brought all our utensils when we came here,” said Mr Durga Prasad, who awaits his wife’s treatment. “We were told that our turn might not come for days, so we were well prepared.” Mr Prasad does not even know what his wife is suffering from. “She has very high fever,” he said.

Mr B. K. Dash, Public Relations Officer of the AIIMS, said the institute was well aware of the problem but they were “helpless”. “This is not a problem of today. We have been facing it for almost a decade. It is almost impossible to treat all of them considering the number of patients that come to the hospital.”

“The OPD distributes cards to patients for two hours in a day from 8 am to 10 am. Those who are lucky to get the cards are checked the same day. Those who don’t have to wait for another day,” he said.

However, it was almost impossible that a patient waiting outside the hospital for as long as a week without being checked by a doctor, he said. The main problem was of admission in the hospital, as the number of patients visiting the hospital was well beyond the number of beds, he explained.

About 6,000 patients visit the AIIMS hospital everyday. Of these, ”almost 700 are in a bad shape” and need to be admitted in the hospital. However, on an average, only 300 out of the 1,656 beds in the entire institute become vacant everyday. So almost 400 patients are added to the waiting list in a day.

Mr Dash said the only way to solve the problem immediately was that patients should trust other government hospitals and approach them instead of waiting outside the same hospital for weeks. “There is Safdarjung Hospital right opposite, but people still feel that it is worth waiting outside the AIIMS than going there for a check up,” he said.

Another problem the PRO mentioned was that of patients with minor ailments visiting the hospital regularly. “We have been insisting that patients with more serious illness would be checked first but several times patients with minor problems argue that they are first in the queue. It becomes quite a problem.

“A patient with minor illness can get himself treated anywhere. By coming to the AIIMS, he is wasting the precious time for the ones who are suffering from more serious, sometimes fatal, diseases.”

Despite this grim scenario, Mr Dash is hopeful. He said the problem would soon be eliminated as the government had already allotted funds to the hospital for OPD screening, wherein patients with minor ailments would be checked only after the ones with serious diseases irrespective of whether they were first in the queue or not, he told ‘NCR Tribune’.

It’s not that one wouldn’t get a bed or get admitted. Several patients waiting outside the hospital alleged that the hospital officials asked for bribe if they wanted a bed inside.

Said Mr Narayan Kumar, whose son’s name is in the waiting list for a bed, “My son is dying and a ward boy had the guts to come up to me and ask for Rs 1,000 if I wanted a bed faster. I slapped him then and there.”

An agitated Mr Kumar added: “They are taking advantage of our helplessness. Obviously, if I had Rs 1,000 I would have given it to him.” But he is homeless and lives at the New Delhi Railway Station with his son, who is suffering from tuberculosis.

The Medical Superintendent, Mr R. K. Sarma, denied the allegations saying that they were “baseless and exaggerated”. “We are trying our best to treat as many patients as we can everyday. But with the rising population, and consequently the increasing number of patients, it is very difficult. We are still giving it our best shot.” Mr Sarma also echoed Mr Dash’s suggestion that the patients should go to various other government hospitals in Delhi to speed up the treatment procedure.

SPORTS

BSF to meet AG Haryana in NFL opener
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 19
Border Security Force (BSF) will take on AG Haryana (Chandigarh) in the opening match of the Phase II Second Division National Football League at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital on Wednesday at 2 pm.

Delhi Soccer Association league runners-up SAIL-Indian Nationals will clash against Assam State Electricity Board, Assam in the second match at 4 pm.

Five prominent football teams of the country—Bengal-Mumbai Club, BSF (Jalandhar), Indian Nationals (Delhi), Assam State Electricity Board Club and Haryana AG — are participating in the second division NFL, to be held at the Ambedkar Stadium from March 20 to 28.

The winners of the Phase II Second Division NFL will qualify for the final phase to be held in Pondicherry in April

Following are the fixtures on other days:

March 22: Bengal-Mumbai vs Indian Nationals (2 p m); BSF vs ASEB, Assam (4 p m). March 24: AG Haryana vs ASEB (2 pm); Bengal-Mumbai vs BSF (4 pm).

March 26: Indian Nationals vs BSF (2 p m); AG Haryana vs Bengal-Mumbai (4 pm).

March 28: ASEB vs Bengal-Mumbai (2 pm); Indian Nationals vs AG Haryana (4 pm).

Saket Bhatia stars in Sonnet’s victory
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 19
Saket Bhatia played a fine all-round game (89 and 2 for 26) to help Sonnet Club beat Indian Airlines by 85 runs in a Super A Division match of the DDCA League at the Kotla No I ground in the Capital.

Scores: Sonnet: 206 all out in 38.1 overs (Saket Bhatia 89, Parminder Singh 34, Ashok Singh 3/33).

Indian Airlines: 121 all out in 21 overs (Navreet Ricky 28, Naresh Jain 4 for 29, N S Negi 3 for 29, Saket Bhatia 2 for 26).

Rajender Nagar beat Rani Bagh by 90 runs in an A-I Division match at the Kalindi College ground. Scores: Rajender Nagar: 232 for 6 in 40 overs (Gopal 69 n o, Nikhil Kumar 38, Siddarm 36, Narinder 4 fir 36).

Rani Bagh: 142 all out in 30.4 overs (Shamshad 32, Dinesh Kumar 3 for 2, Jayant Kumar 3 for 32). Pahari Dhiraj beat Kranti Star by three wickets in an A-II Divisiton match at the RSC ground.

Scores: Kranti Star: 179 all out in 39.4 overs (Sumit Kumar 67, Suhail Dhand 3/25).

Pahari Dhiraj: 182 for 7 in 38.4 overs (Suhail Dhand 37, Vibhav Parshar 35 n o, Prabhakar 2/23). Ekta Club beat Pioneer by 36 runs in an A-II Division match at the Yamuna Sports Complex ground.

Scores: Ekta Club: 133 all out in 35.1 overs (G P Singh 27, Amit Tanwar 3/18, Kapil Kumar 3/22). Pioneer Club: 97 all out in 30.3 overs (Deepak 21, Jaswinder Singh 5 for 26). Citizen Club beat Malik Sports by 119 runs in an A-II Division match at the Yamuna Sports Complex II ground.

Scores: Citizen Club: 240 for 7 in 40 overs (Sumit Dogra 75, Manoj Singh 46, Sudhir Sharma 41, Harish Pandey 3/32).

Malik Sports: 121 all out in 21.5 overs (Bhuwan Chand 18, Antriksh Singh 4/32, R S Tripathi 2 for 22). Indo Club beat Bank of Baroda by five wickets in a B Division match at Kotla II.

Scores: Bank of Baroda: 271 all out in 39 overs (S K Charaya 58, Vijender Kumar 55, Sharad 55, Dalbir Singh 4 for 45).

Indo Club: 275 for 5 in 35 overs (Parul 68, Prahlad 52, Inder 37, Sunil 38).

On a voyage to spread the message of peace
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, March 19
Two adventurous young students with a sense of responsibility to the environment and society, Harinder Singh Flora and Harjinder Singh, are on a worldwide motorbike sojourn to spread the message of “peace, brotherhood, environmental protection, Inter-Universal Globalism, disarmament of nuclear weapons and ending terrorism worldwide”. Harinder Singh and Harjinder Singh set out on their noble mission on a Suzuki Fiero from Kashmir on February 2, 2002, and they are spreading the cause for which they have undertaken this arduous journey through banners, meetings and interaction with people.

The duo were in the Capital on Tuesday, and said the one main purpose of conducting the motorbike tour was to interact with people in different countries, and make them aware of environmental protection. They said the

deforestation and excessive pollution were the main causes of environmental degradation in the world. They felt that this could be overcome only when people are educated with a one-to-one interaction.

This is not the first attempt by these youngsters to spread the message of peace. They had completed an all-India “Kashmir to Kanyakumari” expedition for peace and harmony, and also to make the people aware of the importance of the use of Hindi as a link language. They had the opportunity to interact with former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, former Union Minister, the late Rajesh Pilot and former Punjab Chief Minister, the late Beant Singh, during that long tour.

The success of the Kashmir to Kanyakumari expedition inspired the youngsters to widen their canvas, and undertake a world tour. They plan to cover 86 countries in 18 months, spanning 1,12,460 kilometres. They anticipate an expenditure of Rs eight lakh. They are being sponsored by the Lions’ Club of Jalandhar.

SPORTS CORNER
Air Force ground K N Colts

New Delhi, March 19
Air Force grounded K N Colts by eight wickets in the second Krishna Verma League-Cum-Knockout Cricket Tournament at the Captain Dharam Pal Sports Complex. An unbeaten knock of 53 by Mohd. Imtiyaz was the highlight of Air Force’s victory.

Scores: K N Colts: 124 all out in 35.5 overs (Amardeep Jakhar 39, J P Pandey 3 for 23). Air Force: 125 for 2 in 20.2 overs (Mohd. Imtiyaz 53 n o, S Upadhyay 63 n o).

S P Jain Cricket Tourney

The third Sheetal Prasad Jain Memorial Cricket Tournament will be held at the Mohan Meakin Stadium in Mohan Nagar (Ghaziabad) from Wednesday.

Patron of the tournament Sneh Bansal said top 16 club teams will participate in the tournament. Defending champions Chand Khanna will take on Lal Bahadur Shastri Club in the opening match.

Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), Sonnet, Rajdhani Sports, Subhania, Madras Club, Trans Yamuna Cricket Association, Youngsters, DSI, FCI, DDA, K N Colts, CWC, Pahari Dhiraj and Young Friends are the other teams in the fray.

Senior National Judo

The Senior National Judo Championships will be held from March 28 to April 1 at Andheri Sports Complex, Andheri West, Mumbai. The championships will be organised by the Mumbai Judo Association.

Judo Federation of India president Jagdish Tytler said in the Capital on Tuesday that over 500 judokas from 39 affiliated States/Union Terroritories and Departmental Units will participate in the Nationals.

Many top national and international judokas are expected to participate in the championship. The top ten teams in the men's and women's section will qualify for the National Games to be held in Hyderabad later this year. OSR