Hailing from a small town, I make sure I call my parents over to Mumbai for an annual health checkup and other medical related services once a year. After all, this huge city has so many renowned hospitals, and my corporate coverage allows me to choose any hospital I want to.
This year, I chose Nanavati(I still don’t know why). Maybe because it’s such a known name.
Day 1 - we were happy we chose the hospital, only thanks to the services of Ms. Amreen, the Manager at the regular health checkup cell. She would make sure you feel comfortable, and be wary of the fact that there were senior citizens visiting them.
But that, was that. The chaos that started to emerge thereafter, and only got worse, every passing minute. One has to experience the trauma(God forbid), to understand it.
I cannot elaborate the entire experience here, but can site some specific examples.
Take their general physician Dr. Harshad Limaye, for instance. The man is restless, loud, and arrogant, my parents almost felt guilty to have been’bothering’ him, leave aside the intimidation.
The next day we were to follow-up with him on a previous prescription(traveling all the way from Powai), WAITED 5 HOURS and when he finally arrived, I popped my head in to ask if we could come in, and he was FURIOUS, saying I need an appointment(this is no exaggeration). I had approached the reception 10 times earlier, but not once did they mention that an appointment was needed for a follow-up(we patiently waited for him to finish his OPD appointments).
There were some extra tests that we needed to undergo due to Dad’s low CBC levels(as he wanted to undergo a cataract operation), so we were asked to meet their hematologist the next day.
I spoke to Dr. Ahsa(Hematologist) that very day, and she mentioned we could see her at 4 PM the next day. I called her again at 11 AM the next morning, and she confirmed.
When my parents, senior citizens, reached the hospital, they were told that SHE WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLY AT 7 PM! Do you expect aged people to endlessly wait for doctors just for a 10 minute consultation?
Here’s another instance of mismanagement of appointments.
Post my Dad’s cataract surgery, we needed to see the Doctor at Opthamology for inspection. They reached the hospital on time, after repeatedly confirming that we could come in at 3 PM - only to be told that the Doctor was unavailable that day. This is extremely frustrating, and I really hope others do not have to go through the same.
All the medical science and experts aside, Hospitals are first supposed to make patients feel comfortable and even look at their little conveniences. What else do they charge such huge premiums for?
At Nanavati, my biggest regret is that they are least sensitive towards patient care, especially senior citizens.
One wouldn’t mind paying a premium for better service and a little care and sensitivity towards naive, eager paitients.
Nanavati, the legend, failed at it. Horribly at that.
Thanks, but no thanks, Dr. Harshad Limaye and team.