NEW DELHI: Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi made a late-night visit to the roads, footpaths, and subways surrounding the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, where numerous patients and their families endure difficult conditions while awaiting treatment. Gandhi interacted with the distressed individuals, listening to their stories and highlighting their struggles on social media.
In his posts, he blamed both the Centre and Delhi’s government for their “insensitivity” and failure to provide adequate healthcare infrastructure.
“Waiting for months for treatment, inconvenience, and insensitivity of the government – this is the reality of Delhi AIIMS today. The situation is such that people who have travelled from distant places with the burden of their loved ones’ illnesses are forced to sleep on footpaths and subways in the freezing cold,” Gandhi wrote on social media.
In a post on Instagram, Gandhi shared in Hindi, “On their path to get treatment, they are forced to sleep on roads, footpaths, and subways, holding onto a flame of hope amidst the cold, hunger, and inconveniences. Both the Central and Delhi governments have completely failed in fulfilling their responsibility towards the public.”
One of the family members of a patient who met Gandhi recounted his ordeal. “He asked me for my phone number and said his team would contact me and help as much as possible. My daughter is 13 years old and is suffering from blood cancer. We arrived here on December 3, but there has been no proper treatment since then,” said 41-year-old Sagar.
Another patient, Govind Lal, shared that Gandhi inquired about his stay and the treatment of his daughters. Family members of other patients spoke about the unbearable conditions, emphasising that they had no other option but to endure the cold due to their poverty.
While Gandhi’s visit was humanitarian in nature, it also carried a political tone for the embattled Congress, which was last in power in the national capital 12 years ago and had drawn blank in the previous two elections.