‘Cold is unbearable… can someone arrange blanket for my daughter?’

Instead of of helping people, PGI authorities have got permission to raze the Nehru Sarai to construct a road.

5 min readChandigarhDec 29, 2014 12:18 PM IST First published on: Dec 29, 2014 at 12:18 PM IST

cold, winters, cold weather, chandigarh climate

Mohammed Intezaar with his 3-year-old daughter Aisha at PGI on Saturday night

In bone-chilling winter, hundreds of patients and their attendants are spending sleepless nights out in the open in city hospitals these days.

A visit to government hospitals on Saturday night presented a sad picture. The minimum temperature was 2.3 degree Celsius, the season’s lowest, but huddled under quilts, tattered blankets and even jute sacks were patients and their attendants.
They lay wherever they could find a little shelter, even if it was a tree. Among them were little children and the aged.
Aisha, 3-year-old from Muzaffarnagar, is undergoing treatment for a tumour in her spine. A year ago, she came to PGI and has not gone home since then. Her father, also ill, cannot afford to pay for a shelter. The father and the daughter spend their days and nights under a tree.

“Doctors at Muzaffarnagar removed the tumour, but she developed complication, after which we rushed her to PGI,” said Mohammed Intezaar, the father.

He said, “Today, my daughter and I complete a year at PGI. Last year, I developed a severe kidney infection, after which I was rushed to the emergency. My one kidney is damaged and another has developed infection.”

Intezaar has already spent more than Rs 80,000, is left with very little money and has to spend it very carefully. The father and daughter, in fact all like them, eat at the ‘langars’ run by philanthropic organisations.

Asked why he does not go back home and come on the next date given by the doctor, he said, “We cannot go home, as doctors keep asking for one or another test. I cannot afford the fare to Muzaffarnagar, hence I have decided to stay here,” he said.
“It is difficult to spend the nights. I am worried about my daughter. We have only one blanket and a shawl to save ourselves from the chill,” he said.

There are many like them. You talk to one, and several others will come forward to tell you their pain and suffering.
A few months back, Champa Devi, 60, brought her 19-year-old daughter Lakshmi from Uttarakhand for treatment. “My daughter lies under a tree, semi-conscious. For the last nine months, she has not eaten properly. I take her to the doctors, thrice in a week but there is no relief,” said Champa Devi.

Like Mohammed Intezaar, she cannot spend Rs 400 fare every time to travel to her hometown and hence has decided to stay at PGI until her daughter recovers. “Can someone arrange one blanket for my daughter? I have only one shawl and the cold is unbearable,” she requested.

Santosh Chaudhary from Saharanpur has suffered cardiac arrest twice and has also developed a thyroid problem. Two months back, she came to PGI for treatment and has not gone back because of the sheer poverty. The sarais and night shelters are not enough. In any case those living in the open are so poor that they cannot pay the daily fee of Rs 20.

Instead of thinking of some way of helping such people, the PGI authorities have got the permission from the governing body to raze the Nehru Sarai to construct a road.

The authorities of the Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32 have locked some of the visitors’ rooms in Block C of the hospital. As a result, poor attendants are forced to spend nights in the open. Isro Devi’s husband is admitted on the sixth floor, but she was not allowed to enter the block with her blanket and bag. “The security guards asked me not to enter the block with the blanket in hand. They asked me to keep them outside. I requested them, but it was of no use,” she said.

Dr Atul Sachdev, director of GMCH-32, said, “The visitors’ rooms were small in size and not serving the purpose, so we have created an alternative arrangement for them at the Rotary Sarai which is in the hospital only. We have asked the sarai owners to extend the number of beds from 40 to 100.”

“Further, with attendants and people lying within the hospital, several issues were coming up. Cleanliness was not being done properly, and many thefts were also reported. Hence, we decided to lock the rooms,” he added.

Stay in the Rotary Sarai costs one person Rs 20 a day. Many poor attendants think this is more than they can pay. Since they have limited resources, their first priority is medicines for the patient. “My daughter-in-law is admitted to the hospital, and I have been staying outside the block for the last six days. I cannot pay Rs 20 at the sarai,” said Susheela from Ramdarbar.