AIIMS Delhi | Lives Of Families Hoping For AIIMS Treatment: Underpasses, Shelters, Queues

Lying in the unclean underpass, they wait day after day, night after night, for their turn at treatment. For some, the wait stretches on. For others, time may be running out. But these families have nowhere else to turn. AIIMS is not just any government hospital, for many, it is their last hope, offering treatment they can afford because of its subsidised costs. Fifteen-year-old Tanvi from Rajasthan's Kota, who had a congenital heart defect, died on Tuesday at AIIMS. Her father, Mukesh Pariyani, alleged that despite surgery being discussed and dates being given and later changed, the procedure never took place, and that the family had been waiting for years. AIIMS, however, has said Tanvi was diagnosed with ventricular septal defect (VSD) with pulmonary atresia in 2012 and evaluated for surgery in 2013, but by 2018 doctors had concluded that surgery was not feasible because of her complex cardiac anatomy, and she was managed medically instead. AIIMS said she was later admitted on 24 August for evaluation for a possible heart-lung transplant, and underwent an endoscopy, but suffered a hypoxic episode followed by cardiac arrest and died on Tuesday.