The country’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here was converted into a fortress on Sunday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi went there for a routine check-up. 

Patients and even some staff members were not allowed inside the building during the period he was there. “The prime minister came to AIIMS between 10:30 am and 11 am. It was a routine check-up after which he returned,” AIIMS Director M C Mishra said.

His visit to hospital, which caters to thousands of patients every day, gave a difficult time to the common people, who were not allowed in or near the building, with the whole area being cordoned off.

Eyewitnesses said that not only were patients stopped from going into  hospital, some employees were also not given permission while those allowed to go in were frisked through an elaborate security system. “This level of checking is unprecedented. We were frisked, and some were not even allowed inside,” a hospital staff complained.

Eyewitnesses said the bus stop at AIIMS was emptied, and people were not allowed to exit from the Metro station while the prime minister was going inside the hospital.

The shops near the hospital were also shut down for a while. Hospital officials said the security pressure eased around 11:30 am.

Modi, as per officials, left AIIMS at 1:45 pm. He underwent preventive tests, including an ECG, echocardiogram, refraction and eye pressure measurement. According to hospital sources, the reports were mostly normal. Some more results will, however, come in a couple of days.