I had to go for a ultrasound there twice only, the first time was to confirm a miscarriage so I was upset and I think it might have tainted how I view the whole hospital.
this time around it was for a repeat of an anomaly scan (commonly done at 20 weeks of pregnancy), since my OB didn’t like the quality of my first report and recommended Wockhart and a particular radiologist there which was the same who did the dreadful previous pregnancy scan.
I wasn’t too hot about it, but figured out that this time around I would at least be in a better disposition and that one experience doesn’t mean it is how it is. BOY I was wrong!
I had an appointment made, and went there on time, at the radiology department reception was told to go and pay my bill in the main reception (but you still have to announce yourself in the proper department first before going back to square A)
In the billing and registration it took 20 minutes to have my basic information entered in the computer and get my bill, not to mention apparently entering a name, age and purpose of visit in the system is a 3 person job and 2 phone call worth of hassle, then swiping my credit card is another 2 people job.
But hey we made it and I go back to the radiology department for the receptionist to tell me to head in the second hall on the right and the first door on the left, only to find the door and several people waiting on chairs in a narrow hallway.
Hubby and I find it wierd and don’t kow what to do so we wait, and after 5 minutes I try the door in question to hear voices from the doctor clearly doing a scan, no nurse comes wondering what happened with the door being opened, so I close it back, and wait, a few minutes later the patient goes out.
The doctor storms out with a lunch bag, and no one seem to wonder if there is a next appointment on the book, at this point hubby hunt the radiology department for a staff member who appears startled that we called her, she goes in the sonography room to tell us that the nurse will be with us shortly, the nurse comes out (ha there was a nurse in there indeed!) giving me the "Form F" to fill and sign and the wait for the Dr is on.
Once he comes back in he starts by complaining that at 25 weeks I’m too late for an anomaly scan, I tell him that my Dr sent me for it because the first one wasn’t complete, but he goes on and on on lecturing me how I went to the wrong place. I seriously think that whatever that is it is not my problem. I had a Dr prescription, and I made an appointment and I got in with him at the earliest possible since then.
He starts the scan, rather cold and harsh, muttering baby’s body parts crudely, from the tone of his voice and the look on his face you could feel he had done that a zillion time, didn’t care much wheter he was scanning a baby or a tumor and that whoever was lying down on the bed had no importance at all as long as he gets paid for it. midway through the ultrasound his mobile phone rings!
And without appologising to us picks it up and chats away for nearly 10 minutes, phone in one hand, probe toying on my tummy in the other without looking at the monitor. Once the conversation is over, he still do not offer a "sorry for this disturbance" and continue scanning, each time the image is blurry because heck let’s face it I have a growing live moving baby in there who doesn’t care about staying still for an ultrasound.
The Dr starts complaining again on how bad this all is and that the picture would have been clearer should I have come earlier (such crap I tell you because on my 20th week u/s baby was moving just the same and there was some blurr too).
Each time he doesn’t get the perfect image he wants he angrily poked down my flesh with his stupid probe making me feel like it didn’t matter whether I was an inanimate doll or a real person. Right after his phone call a Dr comes in without knocking to tell him about a patient of his with an infected hip or something...gross...do I need to hear that?
And Hell if the hospital boast world class service that should include respecting patient’s privacy. But nope no one seem to care that a) I got to hear about the infected hip of a patient and b) That there was a lady in the room getting an ultrasound and having her tummy bared. Right after the hip Dr left, it’s a nurse that came in, then another and another, hand files, ask phone numbers and the like.
By the end of the scan the Dr turns to his nurse to tell her what to write, and do not even tell me he is done, it’s only after seeing me still lying down that he coldly say "Well it’s over" no one hands me a towel to wipe out the gel from my tummy.
so I use the sheet they tucked down my pants instead trying to get as much of the stickiness out as I can while the Dr repeat to DH that we came late (GOD YES WE KNOW!!!!) and said that the report can be picked up in one hour, no goodbye, I dress pick my bag, and say goodbye to which the Dr mumbles bye back.
My entire experience at Wockhardt is that they care only about one thing : your wallet, I paid twice the amount for that anomaly scan that I paid in Elbit (which was not a fancy place but the most efficient and polite place I’ve ever been in for medical things). the staff is rude, incompetent, and seriously does it take 3 person to enter your data into a computer? How professional is it to bicker about how to handle things in front of a patient?
If international standard in India means that it’s all about the look, then Wockhardt sure has it, it’s dead posh, and looks like it’s coming straight out of a US made serie, but when you are seeking medical help, this is so not what you are looking for.
Who cares about their pretty painting and flowers and fancy leaflet displays and uniformed receptionists, if getting a nurse to assist you and orient you is though there is something to wrry about, and if a Dr treats you like you are just another few digit on his paycheck then it’s even worse. One thing I’m glad is that my OB do not deliver babies there as the treatment I got in radiology freaked me out.