So close yet so far: Anil’s painful struggle for basic amenities
Fever, chills, fatigue, weakness, infection, weight loss, and easy bleeding—these are but a handful of the symptoms individuals must endure when their bodies decide to overproduce white blood cells, disrupting the production of red blood cells. Add to this deprivation from a safe shelter where you can rest when your body needs it the most and no assurance of basic amenities like food and water. This is the arduous situation that one Anil Kumar from Meerut finds himself in every single day.
Kumar has been staying in Delhi since January 25, 2023, to seek treatment in India's topmost hospital-AIIMS Delhi for the life-threatening disease of Leukemia. Blood Cancer requires continuous supervision and check-ups by medical experts to ensure that the patient can fight it, which is why Kumar has had to stay near AIIMS ever since his diagnosis.
Upon receiving his diagnosis and acknowledging his inability to sustain himself independently, doctors advised Anil Kumar to seek refuge at the Vishram Sadan facility located near AIIMS. This establishment serves as a sanctuary for low-income patients hailing not only from various parts of India but also from neighboring countries. He got a place to stay, but this content didn't last long as he was asked to vacate the area after merely 14 days. Since then, this cycle has continued; he would get a place to stay for 14 days and would have to remain homeless for the next seven days.
If living on the street in this cascading summer wasn't enough, Kumar would have to struggle to get a meal and water. When asked how he manages to get himself food and water, he replied, "Bas yahi sadkon par hi hojata hai, koi aate h, dharmatma aate hai unhi ke dwara hojata h. Andar jaane ke baad andar se hojata hai." (We manage somehow on the street if some kind person comes to distribute food, then we get it through them. Once we go inside the Sadan, we are provided food there.)
Further adding on his struggle for basic amenities, he continued, "Andar se paani bhi nhi lene dete, paani ke liye bhi mana kardete h. Andar se jinse dua-salam hogyi hai unhi se paani mangwa lete hai." (We aren't even allowed to drink water from inside the Sadan. We have made good relations with some of the people living inside, who get us water to drink).
Kumar is just one amongst numerous other patients residing on the street, the majority of them trying to fight life-threatening diseases. A walk across the subway connecting AIIMS and Safdarjung sheds light on how poorly equipped India's healthcare system is to handle the influx of patients it faces each day. This highlights the need to build more institutions like AIIMS across the country to ensure that every citizen's right to quality healthcare can be upheld.
