Long Hospital Waits Put Seating for Elderly Patients in Focus

As AIIMS New Delhi adds a waiting lounge with seats for 897 people, Coimbatore manufacturer Syona Roots draws on its hospital projects to set out what waiting areas need for older patients.

COIMBATORE, November 4, 2026: On the 29th of October, the Union Minister of Health, JP Nadda evaluated the newly launched Patient Waiting Lounge at the Trauma Centre Extension Campus of AIIMS in New Delhi. The lounge was created by Bharat Electronics as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility program. This waiting area spans an area of 2,970 sq metres and accommodates 897 sitting capacity.

With this facility, Aashray will be able to function as a shelter for outstation patients and their attendants who travel to AIIMS and will provide permanent, roofed accommodation to wait, in place of tents. This is a clear indication that the areas to sit and wait are being treated on par with hospital infrastructure.

Waiting Areas Under Pressure

In March 2026, a report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare stated that AIIMS, New Delhi, was overloaded with patients. The report also mentioned how the burden of patients causes problems for the patients themselves due to the prolonged wait times.

The issue is not confined to a single hospital. An audit of public health services in Uttar Pradesh conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India and released in December 2024 found that of 620 outpatients, 167 (27 per cent) complained of inadequate seating facilities for outpatient registration. The audit found that four primary health centres had no proper seating arrangements for patients.

Why Seating Matters for Older Patients

Visiting a hospital typically entails spending much time walking around registration desks, consultation rooms and pharmacies. A routine hospital visit for the elderly, especially for those who have limited mobility or problems with standing, can become a daunting task if there are not enough benches, or if there are benches that do not have proper support.

The presence of family members increases the number of people needing a seat, which means that waiting areas meant for patients might turn out to be insufficient.

Hospital Waiting Chairs From Syona Roots

Syona Roots is a Coimbatore based healthcare seating manufacturer with waiting chairs of two-seater, three-seater, four-seater and five-seater types. This allows hospitals to arrange waiting chairs in waiting areas based on available floor space and expected patient counts. The company has three healthcare ranges.

Venus Gang seats have been constructed using engineering polymer in the seat and back and die-cast aluminium for the legs and armrests. The seat has a maximum capacity of 125 kg and comes with a warranty of seven years.

Jupiter Awe seats feature self-skinned PU foam as the base material and have been designed using an aluminum die-cast frame that has level adjusters in it for stability on uneven floors. The seat has a total load-bearing capacity of 200 kg and comes with a warranty of four years.

Jupiter Ace Mid Back seats have been designed using self-skinned PU foam and feature a steel insert. The back of the seat is moderately high. The seat has a load-bearing capacity of 200 kg and comes with a warranty of four years.

Seating Patients at Sankara Eye Foundation

Syona Roots has been providing Sankara Eye Foundation with products since April 2022, providing 642 furniture pieces in Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Varanasi and Erode. Venus Gang, Jupiter Awe and Jupiter Ace are responsible for waiting area patient seating, visitor chairs for consultation rooms and Pluto chairs with café tables for cafeterias.

Senior citizens constitute the majority of eye hospital patients. Many of them spend several hours at the site for consultations, surgeries, etc. The waiting seats in eye hospitals are utilized continuously from the beginning of the day until it ends.

Planning Waiting Areas Around Patients

When it comes to elderly patients, a good waiting area includes more than just having seats to accommodate them. Features like supportive seating, enough space to accommodate mobility aids and sitting arrangements that do not impede movement within the corridors of the hospital can ease the stress of lengthy stays as seen in some hospitals that have high outpatient traffic.

Having better seating arrangements will indeed reduce the inconvenience faced by patients while waiting in hospitals for hours and hours. The latest AIIMS lounge, committee findings, and CAG report all agree that waiting areas are essential in any medical area where patient-friendly practices are being followed.

About Syona Roots

Syona is the business segment of Roots Industries India that produces furnishings for healthcare, education, corporate offices and transportation. The company’s range includes chairs and BLDC ceiling fans. Since being established in 2013 in Coimbatore, the company has sold 2,00,000 chairs thus far and completed over 100 healthcare projects.

Website: https://syonaroots.com

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Karthik Prasad

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Karthik Prasad is a versatile technology and digital content guest contributor with a strong passion for writing about technology, health, gaming, mobile applications, and emerging digital trends. With a deep interest in simplifying complex topics for everyday readers, he creates engaging, informative, and SEO-friendly content that resonates with both tech enthusiasts and general audiences. Karthik brings a multidisciplinary approach to content creation, covering a wide spectrum of topics including consumer technology, health innovations, mobile apps, gaming updates, software insights, and digital lifestyle trends. His writing style focuses on clarity, accuracy, and reader-friendly storytelling, making technical concepts easy to understand. He is known for staying updated with the latest developments in the digital ecosystem and transforming them into well-structured articles, news features, and explainer content. His ability to blend research with practical insights helps deliver content that is both informative and impactful. At The Hans India, Karthik aims to contribute high-quality articles that inform, educate, and engage readers across categories such as tech news, health awareness, gaming culture, app reviews, and general digital innovation.

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