Suresh Pradhan from Sikkim had brought his sister Usha here for angiography and ballooning tests. They came on January 25 and the angiography was scheduled for February 7 when the strike began. ``We are coming here everyday hoping to see some doctor so that it can be done and we can go back, as her kids' school reopens on February 15,'' said Suresh.

Om Prakash and Seeta are from Kota, Rajasthan. Their seven-year-old son had a balloon angiography done on his kidney on January 2. They wanted to see the doctor, R. Juneja, before they left. ``Yesterday we saw him walking down this path and we showed him the child. He asked us to show him an ultra sound scan before leaving. Now we are waiting here hoping he will walk down this road again,'' Om Prakash said. The medical shops near the institute, which used to be open 24 hours, are closing at 10 p.m. since the strike began.

``It is very difficult now to get medicines after 9.30 p.m.,'' said R.K. Raina from Jammu. His brother, who was operated upon on Saturday after he suffered a brain haemorrhage, is in the Neurosciences Centre. ``We are asked to get medicines at odd hours and now it has become very difficult,'' he said. Javed from Bhopal had his eye operated on at the Rajendra Prasad Eye Centre. He was discharged on February 5 and was asked to come on Thursday to have the stitches removed. ``But I could not meet a single doctor at the eye hospital,'' Javed said.

``Just because the faculty are on strike even the clerks are pretending to be on strike,'' said Gurjeet Singh, whose daughter is admitted in the eye hospital. ``They refuse to do the billing and other routine jobs,'' he said. Singh's daughter had a torn cornea and was to be operated upon on Tuesday. ``It will get worse as the operation gets delayed,'' he said.