Meera Devi (40) fainted in her bathroom on July 15 and was hurried to Safdarjung Hospital where she was detected with possible brain tumour. She was then taken to AIIMS for an MRI but again the waiting time for free test was over two months. (Source: Website)

In what could be termed as bizarre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), one of the most prestigious hospitals in India, has offered a date in 2018 to a brain tumor patient for surgery. It is a well known fact that wards and beds in AIIMS are always utilised to its full capacity and as the flow of patients remains heavy throughout the year, AIIMS offers date beyond two-three months period for surgery, but giving a date of 2018 to a critical patient cannot be justified anyhow.

Meera Devi (40) fainted in her bathroom on July 15 and was hurried to Safdarjung Hospital where she was detected with possible brain tumour. She was then taken to AIIMS for an MRI but again the waiting time for free test was over two months. The family got the MRI done from a private hospital which confirmed that Meera was suffering from a meningioma and it is affecting her brain and spinal cord. But when Meera’s husband Ramjee Singh again took her to AIIMS, the hospital staff gave an appointment date for surgery in August, 2018. Doctors in OPD informed him that he can consider getting his wife’s surgery done in private ward but it would cost over Rs 1.25 lakh, an amount that Singh could not afford.

Finding no way out, the family moved to Delhi High Court and filed a petition seeking speedy treatment. The court has issued a notice to AIIMS, the central government and the Delhi government and sought the replies by August 24 on the petition.

The court observed that AIIMS could utilise the beds reserved for poor people in private hospitals and can refer patients to the hospitals to reduce the waiting period for treatment. While talking to The Indian Express, Singh revealed the apathy caused to him by the private hospitals as several private hospitals denied her wife the treatment sought under the EWS scheme. “We took her to AIIMS again after the court hearing because some doctors told us they would help us, but we were turned away again,” said Singh.