I had called Care On Call, a medical healthcare provider in Ulsoor, Bangalore, yesterday(09 Sep 2020) to request for home collection of samples for FBS, PPBS, HBA1C, and blood pressure checks for my aged mother. And was charged INR 1530, which I have promptly paid in advance, through an online transaction yesterday. I was told that the sample collection will be happening today(10 Sep 2020) morning at 8 AM. All of these exchanges – of me having given the list of tests that I wanted, CareOnCall giving me the charges, sharing the Bank details, and me confirming back the payment – has happened on WhatsApp.
This morning sample collection experience this morning is horrible, to say the least. After all the constant WhatsApp exchanges with CareOnCall yesterday, I had to remind them this morning to send a person, and eventually, the sample collection was complete by 8:55 this morning, One hour after the slot, till which my mother, an elderly lady of 71 years had to stay hungry! Even when the person was here at my place to collect samples, he is constantly on the phone with one hand holding the phone to his ear, and with the other, he is trying to scribble something on the tube meant to collect the blood sample. I was not even sure he has written down the correct name of the patient(my mother) on the sample as he is constantly talking on the phone. And now for the PPBS sample collection, it has been nearly two and a half hours after her breakfast and the person has not come in yet for sample collection. The lady on call at the reception of the so-called coordinator has just connected me to some number and has left it there! What kind of coordination is this? What kind of care is this? And subsequently, no one is answering my call on the 24/7 helpline that it’s meant to be. The same WhatsApp exchange that took place yesterday, where Care On Call was very prompt with responses in a split of a second in asking me to pay, is now totally silent where I am trying to follow up for the person to come and collect PPBS samples. Care On-call has collected money and there is absolutely nothing that I am getting out of this!
The registration process itself is informal and unprofessional yesterday, where money was just taken. No registration number provided, no patient ID provided, no no receipt for the money that I have shared, no bill, or list of services that I have requested. There is nothing in records that I have registered a patient with CareOnCall and they have collected money for tests which they have not done, leave alone collecting samples! Nothing, except a WhatsApp conversation.
And now, no one is answering my call on the helpline provided, which is meant to be a 24/7 medical helpline!
No responses on Whatsapp!
Not only has my money gone, but also to add to this is the misery of tests for my mother still not being done, and to add to this the misery of having to have blood drawn out this morning from an elderly lady of 71 who has had to stay hungry!
And this from a supposedly medical care provider!