In Delhi, the Hospital Care Is Subsidized but the Night Outside Isn't

Patients travel long distances to be treated at public hospitals in Delhi, and NPR reports that those who need it receive financial aid for their care. The subsidy stops at the ward door. For overnight accommodation, families are frequently on their own — which in practice means the street outside, sleeping rough while a relative is in a bed indoors. It's a specific kind of shortfall: the aid is built around the medical bill, while the days of waiting around it are left to whatever a family can arrange or endure. A hospital drawing patients from miles away becomes the centre of an improvised settlement of relatives with nowhere to stay.