Old couple runs from pillar to post for medical aid in Delhi

New Delhi: For last four days, Nathuni Ojha, a resident of Rohtas in Bihar, is running from one bank to another to get his old currency notes exchanged in order to carry out the treatment of his wife.

Mr Ojha was in the national capital to follow up of his wife’s treatment. She had undergone heart surgery in 2014 at a leading hospital in Faridabad. “Due to demonetisation of currency notes of higher values, some crucial tests of my wife has been delayed and we are left with no money in the national capital,” said Mr Ojha.

According to Mr Ojha, doctors had called his wife, Patiraji Devi, for a follow up of her heart surgery held in 2014 and recommended few tests to check proper functioning of her heart. His misery started as soon as the government demonetised currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500.

“As soon as we reached the hospital for the follow up treatment of my wife, doctors, after seeing the records and after a discussion with me and my wife, asked us to get a few test done to check the progress. But the tests haven’t been possible as the hospitals refused to accept the fee in old currencies of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500. They suggested me to get the old currencies exchanged at any of the banks and deposit the fee to get the test done,” he said. Acting on the suggestion of the hospital administration, Mr Ojha went to get his money exchanged at the bank. “First of all I went to Canara Bank and saw a long line of almost a kilometer. After a failed attempt at the Canara Bank, I went to SBI and the condition was no different from the previous one. Next day, I once again waited for hours in a long queue to get the money exchanged and the result was same. I failed to get my money exchanged even with several attempts at different branches from Delhi to Faridabad,” added Mr Ojha.