Rohit Shishodia
Attendants of patients, who shiver in the cold in waiting areas at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, can now avail free blankets for the night to protect themselves from the cold. A blanket bank, which was inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, is run by Aao Sath Chale, NGO, that works for welfare of the poor.

After use, the blankets have to be returned to the bank in the morning. No charge will be taken for the use of the blankets. The move will provide relief to relatives of patients who come from distant areas and wait outside the emergency and in waiting areas in the night.

Most of the attendants cannot arrange any blanket due to lack of money. They have to pass the entire night without any blanket or any thick cloth that can protect them from the shivering cold. On many occasions, people who come from villages of UP, Bihar and Haryana for treatment in OPDs have to stay at night to meet the doctors and to get blood tests done the next day.

They too cannot afford blankets. To address the problem, this blanket bank was opened by Aao Sath Chale, NGO in association with RML hospital.

“Providing free blankets at night will benefit patients and their relatives. Government works on basic amenities for people but each individual in society can help patients through various good deeds. The able people of society should come forward to help the disabled people and become a partner in building a new India,” said Birla while speaking at the inauguration.

Vishnu Mittal, National Convenor, Aao Sath Chale, said that through the free blanket bank facility, family members of those hospitalized will be given quilts and blankets to be used during the night on the basis of recruitment slips.

Dr Minakshi Bhardwaj, Medical Superintendent, RML Hospital; Dr Rajiv Sood, Dean, PGIMER-RML and Dr Anil Goyal, Head, Goyal Hospital and Urology Centre (GHUC), were present on the occasion.