This is post is to inform every one of us about the recent horrible incidents that me and my friends had to go through in some Top Notch hospitals in Hyderabad. The idea is to help out fellow citizens to be aware of such fraudsters who call themselves doctors and medical professionals.
One of my friends was not well for some days and the treatment did not make her much better. Since her state did not improve, we took her back to Yashodha hospital. The doctor advised us to get her admitted as she is not responding to oral medicines. This time, unlike the last time, we decided to get her admitted as this took way too long to get cured.
When we asked about her medical problem, the doctors told us to wait for the tests that they will be conducting once she is admitted. This all happened when all the tests were already done in the same hospital.
To cut a long story short they kept pushing for more tests and admission without even knowing what is wrong with the patient.
Within a day her health improved(this could be due to medication – credit should be given where it is due) but the doctors and the reports suggested otherwise and asked us to wait for few more days and stay admitted. However, till now, nobody knew what was wrong with the patient.
This entire behavior was certainly arousing suspicion. Next day we forced for a discharge and in return got to see our PR for the first time in our two and half day stay. Though she was suppose to make our stay hassle free, the only thing that she could do was to warn us against the consequences of leave against medical advice(LAMA) when we no longer wanted to stay – am not sure of the stay but she certainly made our exit uncomfortable .
Then the docs came – repeated the same drama of scrutinizing the bundle of reports, scolding the poor nursing staff, and assuring us of her health. A contrived concerned faced doctor told us that though the statistics show that her health is falling, we should still stay.
Dear Mr. Doctor, if your reports are right, then why should we stay in your hospital, when her health is constantly declining, and you couldn’t even find out what is wrong with the patient.
Since staying did not make any sense, we forced it and got the discharge done despite there desperate attempts to delay the process and force the patient to stay at least one more day. The final case sheet had her ailment as viral infection. For just two days, we were charged 18, 000 rupees - This excluding all the tests and fees that we had to pay before the admission. Insurance covered some 14, 000 and rest had to be paid by our pockets. Two weeks later, she had a relapse and her health declined considerably. This time, we consulted a known doctor who advised us few tests and admission.
Since, we were suspecting a relapse and the doctor was known to us, we decided to go for the admission despite the recent nightmare. We were referred to The Deccan Hospitals, Somajiguda this time. It was almost a flashback. Everything was same. More tests suggested, same tests repeated and the doctors were replaced by PR executives and finance people. With these kinds of hospitals you get to see your PR and billing guy more than your doctor.
But, they were a notch higher than Yashodha in deception. We were taken to Casualty stating that this was a normal procedure which was not so. This is actually done to jack up the costs by adding Casualty charges. The hospital which looked like a hotel had rooms with ACs stinking, drains clogged and corridors noisy like a fish market. But alas when your friend is so sick you don’t get to notice all these things on the day one.
This time she was diagnosed with Typhoid. This scared the hell out of us and all we could do is to pray for her faster recovery. Though they confirmed the disease, they kept s**king her blood for more and more unknown and mystic tests which only worsened her pain and agony. However, this time the treatment did not respond and despite repeated complaints, nothing was done to stop this agony. There were lesser visits of doctors and nurses kept insisting that the treatment is as per the main consultant physician which the doctor always use to prove false when he use to come on rounds.
After a day and two of calls to all the concerned physicians, her treatment was changed and she started improving. Fortunately, her recovery was fast and we started pardoning the everyday glitches in nursing and facilities.
This time, we decided to trust the doctor blindly and did not ask for a discharge even though she started feeling perfectly fine. The doc told that if she stays without fever for 36 hours, they will discharge her. On Saturday evening, we told this to Hospital staff and they too were in synch. On Sunday morning, we requested them to initiate the process, but they told that we should wait for the doctor to come for his rounds.
The doc did not come. It was 4 in the evening when we told them strongly that we want a discharge and it not our problem if the doc is not available. They kept convincing us to wait for the doc. This dilly-dallying went for 3 more hours and till then it was obvious that they don’t want us to get a discharge.
A lot of phone calls, conversations with ten different officials and threats of consumer court could only force the doctor to come. He repeated himself and asked the authorities to discharge the patient.
But now, the authorities told us that they don’t have any one in the billing department or the Insurance department and hence we will have to wait for one more day. In short, we were being punished for the delays by Hospital staff.
They got rude and asked us to pay the entire amount in cash and leave without any receipts and case report.
We left a Cheque, informed the doctor about it and left. We were charged a whooping 50, 000- This is excluding the tests conducted before the admission
It was a horrible experience which taught us a lot of lessons. Here is what I learnt:-
1) Don’t go for an admission until and unless it is very necessary and you know your doctor very well. If you are an insurance case, you are actually going into a trap of cheatings and frauds.
2) For people, who don’t belong to Hyderabad, it is always cheaper to get a flight booked and go to your home town and talk to your family doctor.
3) If in case, you have to take the admission because of very poor health, get a discharge as soon as possible. They will threaten you with LAMA(leave against medical advice) but at least few insurance companies do give the claim even in the cases of LAMA. You can follow up with your family doctor in your home town later.
4) Be aware, they will try to jack up the costs by admitting you into casualty or by repeating the tests. Always ask. Don’t tolerate.
5) Remember, these are shops and treat them as shops. Your good faith will result in bad health and poor bank balance.
I request everybody reading this to help out the community by sharing the names of good doctors and hospitals in Hyderabad. I am sure that there are good doctors in Hyderabad. It is just that they don’t sit in these conspicuous Health Care Showrooms.