Read the full story on TOI+

With the country’s entire healthcare set-up working towards fighting Covid-19, patients of diseases like HIV, cancer and renal disease who need to access hospitals regularly to continue their treatment, and are immuno-compromised, are facing quite a bit of hardship with most OPDs and operation theatres closed.Take Maitri, who was in the middle of treatment for oral cancer at AIIMS, Delhi, when the lockdown happened. On March 13, she was told she needed an urgent surgery. Now, all OPD services are shut in AIIMS and doctors are not doing any surgeries either. She is in severe pain and the ulcers on her tongue have started bleeding. “We have to go to the AIIMS emergency almost every day because nothing else is open. They give us some painkillers and try to control the bleeding but say they cannot do anything further as the government has ordered a shutdown of all other services," said Maitri's husband.