Incoming foreign patients a fresh worry for Max

Noor acts as a liaison between the hospital and patients from the Middle East. Gajendra Yadav

On Friday evening, minutes after news broke that Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, would be shut, an official who coordinates with foreign patients at the hospital received a text message: “Is everything okay in India? I have my review after three weeks.” The message was sent by Agnes Gathery from Kenya. The review she was referring to was her follow-up cancer treatment, scheduled later this month. Gathery had undergone a bone marrow transplant in January. The hospital’s licence had been cancelled by the Delhi government on Friday.

While patients from the city were asked to shift to another centre, the hospital was flooded with queries from foreign patients, who have extensively planned their treatment. “We told Gathery things should hopefully return to normal in the next three weeks. She has booked tickets, everything has been planned. It’s tough to change the schedule overnight,” the official said.

Noor, an Iraqi citizen based in India, who coordinates between the hospital and patients from the Middle East, has an uphill task ahead of her. She has to admit three critically ill Iraqi patients who have already left for India.

One of them, Salah (48), who has a tumour in his liver, arrives on Monday. “I don’t know how to get him admitted when he arrives. The trip had been planned and he has left. Doctors back home said his condition is critical. I have not told him anything about the recent events,” Noor said.

“A 68-year-old man, who has to undergo a valve replacement in the heart, arrives on Monday, while another patient is coming for a joint hip replacement surgery Sunday. They have already made payments and chose the hospital on the basis of the doctors. We will have to find a solution once they arrive,” she said.

However, the biggest challenge for Noor on Saturday was inside the hospital. Naimur (52) from Nigeria, who is suffering from liver cancer, was scheduled to undergo chemotherapy. But it has been postponed as the hospital cannot allow fresh admissions. “I have told him the chemotherapy is postponed. I cannot tell him the hospital cannot treat him. We are looking for options. I am more worried for him because he has also developed colon cancer, due to which there is bleeding,” Noor said.