Hardlook: Shelters full, hundreds make do in the open around AIIMS

Read | Hardlook: Comfort for homeless in the cold

Dhirendra Prasad from Bulandshahar who is on his third visit to AIIMS in the last six months, and has been told his seven-year-old son, Golu, will need a surgery in his brain this time, finds himself lagging behind every night, no matter how early he starts.

On December 24, his sixth straight attempt, he decides to walk till the trauma centre from the main AIIMS campus, his son on his shoulders while he drags their three bags. His wife, Tara Devi, pulls their other two children. It is about 7.30 pm, but even this shelter is packed. He is also told patients admitted in the trauma centre get priority here. When his daughters cry about the long walk back to AIIMS, the family finds a spot outside the pavement here. “What does it matter, this pavement or that? We will walk back tomorrow,” says his wife, pulling out a stove to begin cooking. Golu is asleep on his father’s shoulder. A Santa Claus hat is balanced on his ears to protect him from the cold, the only reminder for the family that it is Christmas eve. Someone came by to donate blankets and the family grabbed two. Now, they have six blankets to battle the cold.

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The makeshift stalls outside and opposite AIIMS, near the rear gate of Safdarjung Hospital, change seasonally. In summers, along with folders for medical papers, utensils for cooking and masks for patients, they sell mosquito nets. This time of the year, its blankets and woollens selling from Rs 50 to Rs 500. As the evening progresses, the prices spike. Bhola, 29, who has come for his fourth chemotherapy session at AIIMS from Churu in Rajasthan knows sweaters have to be purchased early.

Pradeep, 42, a farmer from Uttarakhand, has become Bhola’s friend during the course of his wife’s treatment for a blood cancer. This evening, Pradeep and his wife found a place inside the shelter near Safdarjung Hospital, but around 11 pm, they came out and found space next to Bhola. “The night shelter was crowded, and one child was in pain; he was constantly crying. We could not sleep. It is better to sleep here in the cold, we are used to it,” says Pradeep’s wife, Lakshmi. Both families have recommendations for dharamshala facility at AIIMS from doctors. But the waiting period is a minimum of three months. “Maybe, we will get a room in my next session,” says Bhola.

Others like Katiyar Singh and his family have found ingenious ways. They open up their tarpaulin sheets and set up a temporary tent next to the bus stop at AIIMS every evening. This evening, Singh has got hold of a plastic sheet to line the floor of his tent. Three other families have also squeezed in inside the tent. Singh’s three-year-old son is suffering from a heart problem he was born with and needs surgery. Doctors have told him he has brought his son too late. A brick kiln worker, Singh had to apply for the PM’s relief fund and it took time for the money to come. “Till the police orders us to break up this tent, we are happy,” says Singh.

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There are two night shelters being run by DUSIB, one opposite AIIMS with a capacity of around 400 people, and another near the dental hospital for about 100 people. At another night shelter run by Sashastra Seema Bal near the laundry and forensic medicine department,120 people can sleep. At the AIIMS trauma centre shelter run by CRPF,100 people can be accommodated. The three dharamashalas run by AIIMS are a distant dream for many. This year, the new OPD waiting hall has also been opened up for patients to sleep at night. They have to clear it by 7 am, states a notice outside the hall.