I live in Powai, hence, in case of any medical emergencies, the nearest "Quality" hospital that one can think of is "Hiranandani Hospital" I had heard horror stories from various people in my own building, as well as members on MS, about this hospital. But when my grandmother fell down during her evening walk, I didn’t have any other thought in my mind and we rushed her to this hospital.
Needless to say, the hospital is well-built and looks grand and spacious to say the least. But the real virtues of a good hospital are, I believe, accurate diagnosis, courteous and polite service and most importantly, affordability. While I had doubts at the back of my mind, I thought they must have got their act together and improved upon the issues. But I was wrong.
We entered the Casualty section, and met a doctor(RMO I guess), who after listening to our story, called up Orthopedic doctors who were available on call. Another resident doctor arrived and asked for X-Ray test to be conducted. It costed Rs.350, which was fine. We got it done and, as expected, it showed that ther were to hairline fractures on either end of the wrist. He said that my grandmother would have to be admitted immediately and they would carry out the surgery during the night itself. My father was perplexed and asked "What surgery?" They said that they would have to administer General Anasthesia and put a plaster around the fracture, and if necessary, put a K-Wire to hold the joints together.
My father didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of general anasthesia for a small hairline fracture on the wrist. He asked them to administer a temporary bandage, saying that he would come next day morning and meet the chief orthopedic doctor. They put the slab, and told him that "Pre-Operation Tests" would have to be carried out. These include blood test and urine test. He agreed, and went to the reception to pay. There, the first jolt hit him. The Pre-op package was costing Rs.1700! Imagine, 1700 rupees for a blood and urine test, and even more ridiculous, HIV Test?! He confirmed if the results would be available next day morning. They said "Yes". So, he went ahead and paid the amount and we came back home.
Next day morning, when we went to the hospital, they told us that the operation cannot be performed immediately since my grandmother had taken breakfast and the patient was required to fast for atleast 5 hours before the operation could be done. We were clearly disappointed since the doctors had not specified it to us last night. The chief doctor arrived and had a look at the X-Ray. Strangely, he looked like he walked straight out of a corporate meeting, wearing suit and tie! He didn’t say much about it, but spoke to the OT(Operation Theatre) guys asking which free slot was available. It was 11 am and we were given 1 pm slot. He told us that depending on the requirement, they would either put K-wire or just put plaster. When asked about the need for general anasthesia(why not local anasthesia), he stressed that it was required.
We didn’t have an option, so we agreed to his terms. While waiting we asked the nurse about the total cost of surgery and whether we would be able to claim insurance on it. She gave us following details
*Surgery+ Cost of 1 bed in "Day Care" i.e. Casualty unit+ Other expenses= Rs.10000
If K-Wire is put then total cost= Rs.18000
If we want to claim insurance, then she would have to be admitted and total cost would be= Rs.28000
We were clearly flabbergasted and shocked to hear the astronomical figures that they were quoting. When we called our friend who works in Health Insurance to check if the costs were usually this high, she said that it was "unnecessarily expensive". We made up our mind. We left the hospital and went to Holy Spirit Hospital, which is also quite close to our home. We reached there just in the nick of time and got to meet the chief orthopedic doctor, Dr.N.M.Shah. There were two desks in the room, with two junior doctors on the first desk, listening to the patient and examining the files, and giving the report to the two senior doctors who were seated on the other desk. Dr. Shah heard him and immediately said that the patient’s age demands caution and care. He told us to let the slab remain for another week, after which they would put the plaster. He refused using of K-Wire, saying that at her age, it wasn’t required, unless she was required to use her hand extensively.
We went next week and got the plaster(fiber cast) done in just 1 hour, with the total cost not exceeding Rs.1000. And most importantly, we were happy with the way they treated the whole issue. Holy Spirit wasn’t interested in s*cking money out of us. They did what a good hospital should do. Hiranandani however, tried to loot us in broad daylight. They tried to charge us 10 to 30 times the amount that other good hospitals would charge for a simlar procedure, needlessly adding cost of anasthesia, operation theatre etc.
However the worst surprise awaited us. When we went to the hospital to collect the Pre-Op Report, the lady was unable to find it. My father shouted and got a written document stating that if they couldn’t find it by evening, they would refund the entire amount. The report arrived in the same evening. I believe the Pre-Op tests were actually absolutely unnecessary since it was just a question of applying the plaster.