Five year waiting for cardiac surgery in AIIMS, NEW DELHI

The number of cardio vascular patients in India is increasing tremendously and this includes the heart patients waiting for cardiac surgeries. However, there is no dearth of private hospitals in Delhi conducting cardiac surgeries of all types for patients ready to incur heavy charges. Usually a package for the heart surgery in private hospital comes to 3.5 lakhs and in some cases even more ranging from cases of open heart surgeries to by pass operations to planting of stunts n even more critical cases of rheumatic heart deseases.

But these hospitals are full of patients of the rich, affluent and upper middle class or those requiring urgent surgeries. The majority of the patients hailing from the poor, backward and economically deprived classes including the middle class have to depend on the services of the government hospitals situated in the capital city of India, NCT of Delhi or in government hospitals in other metropolises.

However, the state and central government hospital employees have the facility of surgeries of critical deseases in private hospitals as they are on panels and are paid by the government but majority of the populace, particularly those in rural areas are totally bereft of these advantages. In Delhi and elsewhere the All India Institute of medical Sciences are considered to be the best central government hospitals in terms of conduction of cardiac surgeries and the AIIMS of Delhi is the one of the best suited where patients in millions throng for cardiac treatment and heart surgeries from all over the country.

The reason being that not only the cardiac surgery here is cheap and subsidised but the surgeons here are of top standards too. The AIIMS is fully equipped with all the latest hi tech machines and cardiac surgeons but is also no less in comparison to the best private hospitals in the town in terms of successful conduction of trivial surgery cases.

The maximum package of the heart surgery here comes to nearly 1.5 lakhs at the most for open heart surgeries or even less in case of stunts fixation n bypass surgeries and its infact a major boost for the enonomically deprived patients. That’s the reason that the institute is heavily over burdened with patients from all over the country with majority of them lying outside on pavements near the hospitals to wait for their turns.

One would be surprised to learn that despite the best possible efforts and intiatives of the AIIMS authorities in rendering best possible treatment to large number of patients, it’s not able to cope with the situation as the number of cardiac patients is rapidly increasing day by day and as a result the waiting for the surgery of the cardiac patients have gone ahead to 2023 meaning that if any cardiac patient needs a surgery, he or she will have to wait for five years at any cost and that to at the minimum. There have been several cases when the poor and needy patients have died waiting for their turn for heart operations, particularlty those needing expeditious operations.

The number of cardiac patients is rapidly increasing at an unabated pace and the situation has arrived at such a pass that even emergency cardiac patients who need urgent surgeries have no option but to go to highly expensive private hospitals by way of selling their lands, properties and house etc. in order to escape deaths. The government of India has during the NDA rule has opened number of AIIMS in other states of the country like in Uttarakhand, Rishikesh, Bhatinda, Punjab, Bhopal, Bhuvneshwar, Patna, Jodhpur n Raipur but these hospitals are still not fully equipped with facilities as compared to Delhi AIIMS and even if they are as the AIIMS OF RISHIKESH, the charges of cardiac surgeries are in commensurate with the charges of high profile private hospitals which is beyond the reach of the general masses i.e. the patients of the economically deprived classes, the poor, hapless and people of the middle and lower middle class.

The government of India should therefore give more impetus to the health sector and open more high profile government hospitals at the earliest to ensure that the back log of severe heart patients requiring urgent heart surgeries and surgeries for other critical illnesses are cleared at the earliest in order to save the precious lives of millions of such poor and hapless patients who can’t afford expensive operations to survive. What’s your take, friends?