Archive · 19 Sep 2025
AIIMS Delhi: Two Cath Labs Down, Patient Wait Times Double
Imagine a hospital with special rooms to fix heart problems.
These rooms use special machines, but at a major hospital in Delhi, India, half of these rooms are not working.
This means people have to wait much longer to get important procedures done, like fixing blocked arteries or putting in devices to help their hearts.
Because these machines are broken, the hospital is trying to buy new ones, but it takes time.
Until then, people who need heart care will have to wait longer, and the doctors might not be able to help as many patients.
Two out of four catheterization labs at AIIMS Delhi are non-functional.
Waiting times for procedures have doubled, increasing to six months.
Procedures such as angioplasty and pacemaker placement are affected.
One lab has been down for six months; another is at the end of its life.
Procurement of new labs is underway.
- Who
- AIIMS Delhi Cardiology Department patients and doctors
- What
- Two catheterization labs are non-functional, increasing wait times.
- When
- One lab down for 6 months; another for 10 years
- Where
- AIIMS Delhi
- Why
- Equipment failure and procurement delays.
- Affected Department
- Cardiology Department, AIIMS Delhi
- Functional Labs
- 2 out of 4
- Increased Wait Time
- From 3 to 6 months
- Procedures Affected
- Angioplasty, Stent Placement, Pacemaker Implantation, Defibrillation, and Radiofrequency Ablation
- Reason for Outage
- Equipment reaching end of life; procurement process underway