For cancer patients in East Delhi, the Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI) was meant to be a lifeline. But instead, it has become a place of endless waiting and frustration. Despite frequent changes at the top, the ground reality for patients remains grim.

In just the past four months, the hospital has seen two new medical directors take charge. The latest is Dr. Anil Kumar Jain, Director of GTB Hospital, who has now been given additional responsibility of DSCI. But for patients, the question is simple: does changing faces at the top really make a difference if the system itself remains broken?

Take the operation theatres, for instance. Out of four, only two are actually functioning. This means patients—many of them battling life-threatening cancers—are forced to wait weeks, sometimes months, for surgeries that should be done urgently. For families, the delay feels unbearable.

The problems don’t end there. The PET-CT scan machine, a critical tool for cancer diagnosis, has been lying defunct for days. Without it, patients are pushed to private labs, where the costs run into thousands—an impossible expense for many middle-class and poor families.

Doctors and staff admit the hospital is struggling with shortages and equipment failures, but the frustration is mounting. “It’s not just about changing the director every few months,” said one hospital staff member off record. “What patients need is stability, functioning machines, and enough doctors to handle the rush.”

Until that happens, patients at DSCI will continue to face an uphill battle—not just against cancer, but against a system that doesn’t seem to be healing.