11-year-old Syeda Faza lay outside the out-patient ward at Niloufer Hospital, Hyderabad on Friday, crying in silence, as her father ran from one place to another looking for doctors. When TOI caught up with the duo, it had already been over two hours since they had come to this hospital in hope of treatment.

But as the hospital was flooded with cases of dengue and other viral fevers, there were no room for Syeda whose both legs were paralyzed. At least four hospitals had denied treatment to her, either due to lack of beds or cost of treatment.

Her father Syed Moiz, a resident of Falaknuma said that the government hospitals are flooded with people with dengue and they cannot afford private hospitals. Few hospitals were not even able to tell him why his daughter couldn’t walk or even move her legs. They just kept asking them to go somewhere else for treatment giving different reasons. He further said that his daughter’s health is very bad and needs to be kept under medical observation but do not know which hospital or doctor to rely on. He had never felt so helpless and can’t see his daughter suffer this way.

In the last few days, chaos and helplessness has been seen in government hospitals with no beds. Many patients are seen waiting for hours even for a regular consult or investigations.

Even on Friday, Moiz made the rounds of other hospitals but he failed to find any kind of help. Finally he brought his daughter back to Niloufer and after requesting the hospital authorities, they finally made room for his daughter.  He said that after consulting a doctor at OGH, he got his daughter to Niloufer as the doctors at OGH told them that they did not have the vaccine which is required for his daughter’s treatment.