After a bad experience with Yashoda Hospital, Ghaziabad(review posted earlier) I went to Max Balaji Hospital at Patparganj, Delhi for my father’s surgery. The hospital parking was a mess, but the OPD was reasonably clean. There was no queueing system in place so it was a dash to see the doctor everytime the cabin doors opened. The doctor was courteous, attentive and thorough. For an operation estimated at 30k by my insurance agent he gave us a number around 40k - not bad.
When we went for admission, we found the operation facilities booked but no bed available! A few hours later one magically appeared and we landed up at midnight for the admission process. Since the TPA approval had not arrived, they charged me the estimated 40k - luckily they also accept all credit cards(AMEX too!) so by 2am my father was settled in. The nursing, operation and post operative care were efficient - though there were instances where the attendant bell would get answered only when accompanied with shouts!
The surprise came when it was time for discharge and bill settlement - a final bill of 62k!
Needless to add we ended up spending a wasteful 4-5 more hours while the extra expense was sent for insurance approval under threat of deducting from the cash deposit I had made earlier.
Lesson learnt - when insured, always avoid emergencies requiring cash deposit. When thus processed the hospital has to negotiate with the TPA and live with the approvals and not end up inflating bills just because the patient is insured.
Also, big hospitals are not always big on efficiency and still require you to waste time while they do their thing.
Lastly, since I’d paid the’cash’ advance by card, the refund is to come 2 days after discharge - and by cheque.