10 patients die daily at AIIMS

New Delhi, Dec 6: More than ten patients die daily on an average at the country's premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, according to data provided by the Health Ministry.

As much as 4,432 patients were reported to have died in 2012-13, 4302 in 2013-14, 4467 in 2014-15 and till October this year, 2802 deaths were registered at the institute.

Health Ministry officials said the institute is catering to a large number of patients from across the country on a daily basis, who are often referred to the hospital at critical stages.

AIIMS attends to more than 8,000 patients every day in its OPDs while casualty is visited by about 400 critical patients everyday.

The maximum number of deaths were reported from departments like gastroentrology where 536, 448, 403 and 223 people died in 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively, and Jai Prakash Narayan Trauma Center which registered 631, 624, 544 and 472 deaths during the same period. "A large number of critical and serious patients with multiple co-morbidities get admitted for treatment at AIIMS, New Delhi.

The institute has created High Dependency Units (HDUs) in many wards to reduce mortality," senior ministry official said.

He said keeping in view the admission rate of critically ill patients in AIIMS, government has approved an additional 85 HDU beds and 106 ICU beds over the last three years to cater to the needs of the critically ill patients.

The official said in order to keep with the increasing patient load, government has also taken steps to augment tertiary care facilities including setting up of new AIIMS- like institutions, strengthening Super Specialities and setting up of State Cancer Institutes and Tertiary Cancer Care Centers in government medical colleges.

PTI