AIIMS: 3,000-bed facility proposed for patients’ kin

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi on Friday informed the Delhi High Court that it has proposed the construction of a 3,000-bed shelter home for families of patients who are currently sleeping outside the hospital in the cold.

As a long-term measure, the hospital said it plans to develop a 3,000-bed Vishram Sadan on approximately two acres of land at Ansari Nagar and replace an old 300-bed facility. This expansion would enhance accommodation capacity and ensure “more humane and dignified living conditions for patients and their attendants”, it said.

A Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia was hearing a suo motu petition initiated after the High Court took cognisance of The Hindu’s January 11 report, which detailed the plight of patients and their families enduring a severe cold wave outside major Delhi hospitals.

AIIMS also told the court that it has offered land to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) for erecting around 80 pagodas (tents). At present, the institution has shelter facilities that can house a total of 949 patients and their family members.

Emphasising its “patient-centric” approach, AIIMS said it has created dedicated assistance teams, comprising two personnel from security agencies and two from shelter homes, to guide patients and their families in accessing available facilities. It has also proposed a dashboard to display vacancies in DUSIB shelters.

The court directed authorities to cooperate with AIIMS in constructing the new shelter and said it expected the facility to be completed “at the earliest possible time”.

According to DUSIB’s counsel, 20 new pagodas have already been set up near AIIMS and Safdarjung and more would be erected by the evening. He added that 20 tents each have also been erected near RML Hospital and Lady Hardinge Hospital.