I am writing to let people know of issues I faced despite me being a doctor and got no response when raised the issue with the hospital, essentially they don’t care.
This has all the points I wrote to them, my relative was admitted to the Lung Transplant Unit of Yashoda hospital for ECMO at Secunderabad, from 26th May to 12th of June.
I am writing with a very heavy heart, to bring to your notice some points, which I, as a relative and a medico myself, observed, during the course of the treatment and unfortunate incidence of him not being able to make it out of the hospital, well.
Fundamental issues:
I brought my patient to your setting bearing the almost unbearable cost of an air ambulance, and had high expectations as far as the care of the patient is concerned, well understanding the criticality, however, the rigid rules made it even more difficult.
Rigid rules and an apathetic attitude:
In the hospital, we were not just fighting the post COVID complications, but also your insensitive staff. The number of relatives allowed was a constant annoyance, as the security staff used to frisk and treat relatives badly as if it was a leisure spot. No one wants to come to a hospital anyway, trust me.
But for a young man admitted in ICU with a life-threatening illness with so much uncertainty, 3-4 relatives who have travelled from 2000 km, at least want to be a part of the discussion for decision making with the consulting doctor. An empathetic approach for handling is needed from part of your staff, they need to be trained better. NO ONE wants to come to a hospital just like that.
Prolonged ICU Admissions:
When ICU admission is very much prolonged, a relative wishes to stay with the patient for longer durations to keep their morals high, as there is a lot of uncertainty that looms around their critical illness and survival. Relatives don’t want to go back leaving him/her critical. Therefore, the hospital should consider revising the policy to allow relatives(at least one) to be there, who wish to be there.
For instance, one day when he developed a septic shock, we intended to stay back with him, but your staff kept on pushing us out, from floor to floor. It is not justified to force relatives to leave. You should permit relatives to stay at night in specified areas, if not their ward.
Young Inexperienced Nursing Staff:
Nursing staff in the most critical setting, LUNG TRANSPLANT UNIT were in their early 20s. Young girls with negligible experience of ICU, who kept on running out to look for a doctor for the smallest complaints, I don’t expect them to understand the gravity of the situation of the patient they were handling, and individually handle a fall in oxygen or BP till doctor arrives, but with all your excuses of shortage of staff and all, it is not JUSTIFIED, it was gross misconduct.
Improper Infections Handling:
Initially, our patient was showing some improvements on ECMO, so it was planned for gradual weaning. However he kept on developing one after another episode of sepsis followed by shock, he got every possible bug in the ICU, all XDR. As a medical professional, I am well aware of the vulnerability of a person to these infections in such a setting, but the way it happened one after another makes me question the asepsis followed, with such amateur staff and respiratory therapists handling the patient!
Cost of the treatment:
The cost of treatment is in no way justified, seeing that we do all such investigations and use all such drugs daily in our settings, except the ECMO machine part. It is our helplessness that we seek help in such difficult situations, however, despite understanding such prolonged periods of intensive treatment with unbearable cost, your institute doesn’t consider the fact of considering the cost and leave aside exorbitant profiteering aside even in a pandemic setting with Uncertain and prolonged ICU stay. I can also provide a detailed comparison of the price you charged, and the average price for the same procedure of investigation in the state, if needed.
I am not ungrateful and actually thankful to your doctors, who were supportive in the beginning to take our patient and to ensure best of care. However I can not ignore the trauma I faced as a relative, and even as a doctor in such a high tension situation at your hospital. I am writing so that others don’t suffer the same, for once your management should think from the perspective of a relative whose young patient is on the verge of dying unexpectedly from such a disease.
I am not generalising the hospital’s conduct for other diseases, you certainly be doing a really good job to get such a nice reputation, but I wrote, as I believe is a state of the art institute of the country, you would be open to feedback, to improve further, to make it one of the best institution of international standards, so that we can have results comparable to the first world.