Patients and relatives brave chilling winter on footpath outside AIIMS

Patients & relatives who came all the way from remote corners of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states for treatment, sleeping on the footpath outside AIIMS, New Delhi. With half-fed half-empty stomachs and nothing except tarpaulin sheets to protect them from the winter dew, these poor people are left at the mercy of those who distribute food and blankets to the poor outside AIIMS.

New Delhi: Braving the Delhi's cold winter nights on footpaths outside the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) are some patients and their relatives who came all the way from remote corners of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states for treatment.

With half-fed half-empty stomachs and nothing except tarpaulin sheets to protect them from the winter dew, these poor people are left at the mercy of those who distribute food and blankets to the poor outside AIIMS.

Narrating their ordeal they said that they are driven outside the hospital in the evening.

"I am here since last 12 days. Food is very costly here. I am sustaining on the mercy of those who distribute some food to poor," said a middle-aged woman who came from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh for treatment.

"For the past one week, I am sleeping outside on footpaths. I am myself a patient but they didn't allow me to stay inside in the evening while we are driven from here also before morning," said a man who came from Purnia in Bihar for treatment.

"We have nothing to protect us from this chilling cold except this tarpaulin sheet," said Dhananjay Kumar of Purnia. " I have not taken a bath for last two weeks," he added.

Women complain that they face problems in attending nature's call.

"It is very difficult to attend here. I am faced with immense problems in relieving myself," said Archana from Budaun in UP.

National Weather Forecasting Centre has issued a 'red colour' warning for Saturday and Sunday for areas like Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, north Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh as the temperatures are going below normal. Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are blanketed under a layer of dense fog.

Safdurjung recorded 2.4 degrees Celsius temperature on Saturday morning, Palam 3.1 degree Celsius, Lodhi Road 1.7 degree Celsius and Aya Nagar 1.9 degree Celsius, Jafarpur 3.1 degree Celsius, Nahargarh 3.8 degree Celsius and Delhi University 4.9 degree Celsius, as per the weather agency.