Last week I visited All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS ), Bhubaneswar taking my mother for a consultation. She has been suffering from ankle pain for quite some time, about which I wrote in this post. The medicines and remedies advised by the doctor in the govt hospital at my native has not helped. So after the medicines were finished, we decided to consult a better doctor and my friend advised to go to AIIMS. Usually I never prefer to go there, knowing that its literally impossible to get a ticket done and consult the doctor but my friend said he will take care of that. So I dropped them at the gate and went to park the car.
There was no one in the parking area, so it is like you do what you like to do or can do. After roaming few rounds I managed to get a spot and parked the car and went back to the counter.
Looking at these banners, it felt like there must be an online system to book tickets, but since they were already inside, I had to go and find them.
The "May I help you" counter at the entry did not look like it could help, reaching there itself was kind of a tedious task. Tried calling my friend and his phone was not reachable. So I tried to find him around and it was literally an impossible task.
Asked someone standing in the queue how to the ticketing system works and he said go to the person sitting above and get an OTP by showing your Aadhar card and then stand in another very very long queue to get the ticket. The counter closes at 10.30 am so if you are lucky then you may get the ticket else you have to try next day. People come as early as 4 am and wait in the queue. And if you look at these pictures then they are sea of people trying to reserve a spot and in that process they stay there for days till they get the ticket, be it sleeping there or eating whatever they carry. Is it going to change ever ? I guess never, unless we fix the root cause. And what is the root cause ? We are now the largest population of the world and the rate at which we are growing, its impossible to develop and provide better health care facilities for public. AIIMS is mostly a free service with some best treatment quality because the best brains get inside this premier institute. So people from neighboring states ( West Bengal, Bihar) come here and wait to get treated, whatever number of days it may take. After the consultation happens, if the doctor advises any surgery then they have a queue system, considering the urgency though. So one may even die while his turn comes but that is the reality on ground.
The fact that pinches me most of the time is that why does not any government take population as a serious problem ? The resources are not growing but the consumers are. Isn't it the root cause of most of our problems ? But no government wants to take risk because its a sensitive issue, but how long we go like this ? The phone rang at that moment and I went out as it was so loud inside. My friend was searching for me and what he told was a pleasant surprise to me - he booked the ticket in another counter that was inside and left mom near the doctors chamber, so I should come there.
Going inside and walking the corridor to reach the ward was reminding my thoughts again as you can see. They eat, sit and sleep here only till their treatment is done. And that makes me feel, we will be a developing country forever, unless we all think about the problem and take care.
Getting to the area where doctor's chambers are present is strictly after getting the ticket done. And mom was given some preference being a senior citizen and happily sitting there, as it was not so crowded with well ventilation.
Kudos to my friend, who made this possible. Honestly I never can get this done myself. The doctor came after 15 mins and diagnosed the root cause instantly, looking at the same X-ray that was done in our local govt hospital. That is the difference that you see here - the knowledge and expertise they have is unmatched. He said, its a mechanical problem because of the growth in bone and it needs a small surgery, can't be treated by medicine. But before that a MRI needs to be done to confirm the situation. And more ever, given her age, they may decide to do a minimal invasion surgery, that will be less risky.
When we went to inquire about getting the MRI done inside, they said it will take two months after which our turn will come 😀. It comes at a discounted price though ( almost 50% of what they charge outside). So there was no point to stay there and we decided to come back home. I never imagined, we could consult a doctor in AIIMS and come back within 1-2 hrs, but that was possible only because my friend.
I turned back to only take these photos to leave a review of this place - this post will be part of that. They seem to have a Dharmasala where people can stay, but I am sure, you won't get a seat unless you book it in advance.
On our way back to home, there is a famous sweet shop where we stopped and brought a lot of sweets. The snacks we ate was treated as free and he did not charge for them. The quality of his products are much better and cheaper than what we get in the city.
I am planning to take a second opinion from another famous doctor whom I know, before we decide anything. It's always better to play safe at her age, so more to come on that.....
copyrights 
