Despite CM's letter, government hospital refuses patient

New Delhi: A 75-year-old man, in need of dialysis, was refused admission in several Delhi government hospitals, despite a letter of recommendation from chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The case again brought to the fore the shortage of beds and dialysis machines in hospitals under the Delhi government.The patient, Mr Aaj Shah, suffered kidney failure in both his kidneys and the doctor has asked him to undergo dialysis at least twice a week. His son Mr Ram Bilas earns a meagre salary of Rs 15,000 and cannot afford the treatment cost of private hospitals.

After trying admission in a few government hospitals, the son went to the chief minister’s residence in hope of some help last week, following which Mr Kejriwal signed a letter asking him to seek treatment from the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital. However, the hospital refused treatment stating that there is a long waiting line for dialysis and referred the patient to Hedgewar Hospital which also said there were no beds currently and further referred him to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). 

“It was already so late. I didn’t go to AIIMS and got him admitted to a private hospital. The treatment is expensive and I had to loan money from others for this,” said Mr Bilas.

The senior citizen is getting dialysis once in 15 days instead of twice in one week as asked by the doctor.There are at present only 60 dialysis machines at three Delhi government hospitals — Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP), Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, and Hedgewar Arogya Sansthan, which were installed in 2013 under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode by the then Congress government.

It has plans of opening exclusive dialysis centres at four more Delhi government hospitals. to cater to the growing number of kidney patients.