At the PGI, empty donation boxes killing poor patients

Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 7

Suffering from a severe kidney ailment, Gurpreet Kaur from Mehal Kalan in Barnala came to the PGI here with much hope. She had learnt that the institute received many donors who generously contributed to the treatment of poor and needy patients.  She was in for a disappointment. Donations having dried-up post-demonetisation, her treatment has been delayed.

Like Gurpreet, many other needy patients have become a casualty to the government’s cash clean-up drive. Some may call it collateral damage, but the damage is immense. “I had to stand for four hours in a queue for Rs 500,” says a rather frail Gurpreet, teary-eyed.

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Dinesh Kumar has come all the way from Bihar. He has no money for dialysis. Amar Kumar’s dialysis has been delayed because of lack of funds. The donation boxes are near-empty.

“We have at least 100 kidney patients. On each patient, we spend Rs 17,000 per month for dialysis two times in a week and medicines worth Rs 7,000. These include an injection that costs Rs 4,000. It has to be administered every month,”  says Inderpreet Singh Chadha. He runs Humble Charities that works to provide free treatment to poor patients at the PGI. “As donors are facing a cash crunch, they are unable to contribute much,” he says. 

Another problem is with regard to depositing money in the accounts of patients who have returned home after treatment but need money to buy medicines.

“Thirty-eight patients came to the PGI for treatment but could not be saved. We have been sending Rs 1,000 per month to their widows as help. But banks now are refusing to accept money in their accounts.

“Also, 50 persons discharged after treatment need money for medicines. We provide Rs 1,200 to each one of them. But we can no longer deposit money in their accounts. Every day we get calls from exasperated patients, asking for money. It is hard to explain to them that we are helpless. The despondency in their voice is hard to miss,” chadha says.

That is not all. About 2,500 patients and their relatives, including young children, daily take meals at a gurdwara inside the PGI premises. With a sharp fall in donations, the gurdwara is finding it hard to run the community kitchen (langar). It is running out of sugar, wheat flour, pulses, tea leaves and milk. Alarmed, the management of the gurdwara, that also provides lodging facilities to kin of patients in an adjoining inn, has sought help.

“We have had to request Baba Labh Singh of Anandpur Sahib to send two trucks of ration to run the community kitchen,” says Baba Tarsem Singh. “Earlier, people would line up to donate pulses, sugar and other food items. But rarely does any donor visit the shrine now,” he adds, looking despondent.