This year winter in Chandigarh is adding to the miseries of the patients and their attendants who are forced to…
A view of the pavements occupied by patients, attendants at PGIMER Chandigarh on Friday (PHOTO: Pradeep Saini)
This year winter in Chandigarh is adding to the miseries of the patients and their attendants who are forced to sleep on the pavements in the open at Post Graduate Institute of Medical and Research (PGIMER). The patients are undergoing an agonising experience.
With the entire north Indian region is under a spell of severe cold wave, it is an incubus experience for the patients as the blanket of fog makes the cold worst. Wanting to keep a close proximity to the patient their migrant attendants prefer not going to the nearby shelter or sarai. Some of them also want to save on the meager amount they have to deposit at the sarai for lodging and keeping their luggage in the cloak rooms.
A twelve-year-old Nitish who has come from Bijulpur Lalapati village in Bihar for his treatment along with his uncle has not managed to get an admission yet. He said, “My body is unable to make blood on its own. Till the time of admission, we are staying out using blankets and quilts that we brought with us.”
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Farida from Saharanpur is accompanying her husband who is admitted in the ENT ward. She stays on the pavement outside the ward. She said, “I have not taken bath for the last 12-days. The chill freezes my bones."
Another resident of Saharanpur, Sunil is also staying on the pavement along with his wife and their nine-month-old-baby. His brother-in-law is admitted in PGIMER for the last four days following an accident. Sunil said, "The patient is unable to move. He requires help off and on.”
PGIMER caters to mainly Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Himachal Pradesh but it has witnessed a swelling footfall from all over the country in the recent years. In the year 2016, the number of outdoor patients was 23, 10,384 and that of the indoor patients was 81,758. Apart from providing patient care the hospital also involves itself in providing facility to the attendants but as there are multiple attendants with almost every patient, they are forced to sleep in the open.
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