At 9 pm on Friday, Laliya Khan (in her 60s) hobbled along with her husband, Jahid Ali, holding large cloth bags filled with blankets and health reports. She scanned the Delhi Metro subway near the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the country’s premier medical facility, looking for a place to sleep for the night.“I got my MRI done today, and my husband came for a routine check-up. He is a heart patient and was operated on years ago,” she said, carefully spreading a blanket on the tiled floor.A blood-stained cotton swab slipped from her hand, remnants from a test earlier in the day. “They pulled the needle a little hard,” she added.Soon, a few police officers stepped into the Metro station. “Please don’t sit here, go to the Trauma Centre. Vehicles are parked outside to take you there, go sleep peacefully. This is a Delhi High Court order,” one of them announced.Laliya was puzzled. “What if they say we don’t have a slip and can’t sleep there,” she murmured to her husband. Laliya and Jahid Ali, who are from UP, inside the tent at AIIMS. (Express Photo by Drishti Jain)The officer was referring to the HC’s directions from earlier this week.Acting on reports that night shelters were packed, forcing patients awaiting treatment and their relatives or attendants to sleep in the open in the cold, the HC Wednesday had directed the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to temporarily take over subways around major hospitals immediately and make arrangements, including setting up of beds.Story continues below this adTo be sure, this winter has been brutal. On Thursday, Delhi recorded the coldest morning of the season with the night temperature dipping to 2.9° C — the lowest since January 2023. Friday’s minimum was slightly higher, at 4.3°C.The court had also impleaded four central government hospitals — AIIMS, VMCC & Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Hardinge Hospital and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital — as parties to the litigation, as well as various civic and administrative authorities.Following this, a meeting was held on January 15 with representatives from all stakeholders and a short-term plan was drafted. According to the minutes of the meeting, The Indian Express has learnt, officials of VMMC & Safdarjung Hospital said there was an open plot, measuring 1 acre, near the Sports Injury Centre inside the hospital — adjacent to AlIMS Trauma Centre — and about 70-80 ‘pagodas’ (temporary night shelters) can be erected immediately.Each of these can accommodate around 20-25 people.Back at AIIMS, Laliya and Jahid, along with 14 others, boarded a buggy at Gate 1 of the hospital. The vehicle quickly set off, going through an underpass and coming to a halt near the Trauma Centre.Story continues below this adHere, a row of nine tents was set up by DUSIB. The ground was covered with a thick sheet of foam. The couple quickly took up a spot in one tent. There were around 15 others inside — a young mother trying to make her child sleep, another watching a video about ‘how to treat cancer from inside this blanket. People sleeping inside the tents. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)Near them was another couple — Raziya (34) and Javed Ali (35) from Muzaffarnagar. Raziya was diagnosed with stage-2 blood cancer in 2024 and has been coming to AIIMS since last year.She worried that her health would deteriorate because of the cold. “We usually take the injection shots and leave the same day, but the appointment got delayed today. So, we have to sleep here,” she said, as her husband consoled her.Another occupant, Rajesh Kumar (45), attended to a call from his wife. She was with his nephew inside the hospital. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll manage here,” he said, informing her that he shifted from the subway to the tent.Story continues below this ad“For the last two years, we have been coming here from UP’s Baghpat to get my nephew treated for fits. We slept in the subway as we couldn’t afford a lodge or a hotel, but I was relieved to see the facility today,” he added.During the HC hearing on Friday, the counsel for DUSIB had said 20 new pagodas have been set up near AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital and more would be erected by the evening. “Twenty tents each have also been erected near RML Hospital and Lady Hardinge Hospital,” he had added.Around 8 km away, at RML Hospital, families were spotted inside the Trauma Centre — some slept beneath parked stretchers, others leaned against each other to share a blanket. Outside the Coronary Care Centre, more families lay on narrow marble ledges.Khushi Thakur (19) and her family have been waiting near the hospital’s emergency ward since December 25 as her six-month-old child is being treated for seizure attacks in the ICU.Story continues below this ad Patients inside the buggy. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)Squatting on her haunches in a small circle, along with her husband and mother, she said, “Bacche ke liye rehna padhta hai adjustment karke (We have to manage and adjust for the sake of our child).”She added that fellow patients have marked their spots here, referring to several other people sleeping in a row with their blankets tucked from every corner, “so nobody fights anymore”.As per the minutes of the January 15 meeting, RML had submitted that in the Centre Park of the hospital, “there is space to erect at least 20 pagodas”, which they will provide for said purpose.When The Indian Express visited on Friday, the tents were still being set up. Only eight canopies had been fixed while a stack of beds lay unattended.Story continues below this ad“How can tents be prepared in a day?” said the contractor responsible for the work. “First, the flooring needs to be readied for the beds to be fixed,” he added, claiming that workers have not been coming to work to help set up the tents due to winter.When contacted, the officer in-charge — appointed after the meeting to oversee facilities at the hospital — said, “A total of nine tents have been erected until Saturday and the rest will be made available soon. Around 56 people have come to take shelter here today.”