Delhi shivers as temperatures fall to 4.6 degrees Celsius. Hundreds of patients and their families wait outside AIIMS each night, seeking a place to sleep. Twenty-seven-year-old Yashodha Kumari from Palamu, Jharkhand, sets up a makeshift camp in Ansari Nagar after shops close. Her husband is receiving treatment for a throat tumour at AIIMS. “The nights are getting chillier, but I don’t have any other option,” said Ms. Kumari. She keeps her one-year-old daughter wrapped in blankets to stay warm. Many have traveled from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Bihar. They come for free or affordable treatment but cannot pay for shelter. Rain on Friday night soaked their clothes and blankets, making life harder. Nearby night shelters run by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board and AIIMS’s ‘Vishram Sadan’ dormitory are full. NGO volunteers suggested a shelter home in Geeta Colony, 15 km away, but many prefer to stay close to the hospital for appointments. Sunil, 25, from Gaya, Bihar, said, “I prefer to stay near the hospital for regular appointments and check-ups.” The Centre for Holistic Development (CHD) wrote to Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, seeking more tents and shelters outside hospitals. Sunil Kumar Aledia, CHD’s executive director, said, “A grave humanitarian crisis is unfolding outside hospitals such as AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, and Lady Hardinge Medical College.” The team counted 7,882 people sleeping outside hospitals in Delhi. He warned of risks like hypothermia and respiratory illnesses. AIIMS officials invited patients to use Vishram Sadan with 694 beds and the ‘Ashray’ camp with 250 beds, but a notice on Friday night showed these were full.