Maternity: Mix of Good and Bad. Review on Manipal Hospital - Kodihalli - Bangalore

We had our first baby delivered at manipal, bangalore. There have been a mix of good and bad experiences. The only sigh of relief for us was that there were no complications at the time of delivery (it was normal delivery) and the doctor handled it well. I saw first hand how much the experience of a good doctor counts in assessing the condition of the patient (my wife). She was in labor pain all night. Junior docs came and went several times in the morning but failed to notice that she had already reached the delivery stage. Fortunately our gynec was in the OT and made a visit to see my wife.

She immediately moved her to the labor ward and within 20 minutes my the baby was delivered. That was the good part. We were shifted to our separate room (which we had opted for) only 8 hours after delivery (they had a long waiting line). The baby developed jaundics (high billirubin levels) on the very next day of delivery. We immediately reported to the visiting doctor but he still delayed the phototherapy by 1 full day. By that time the baby's billirubin level had shot up to dangerous 20. They later started the light therapy and since the level was high added half a dozen tests to be conducted. The junior doctor extracting the blood was the most irresponsible jerk I came across. He had taken the blood sample of the baby for determining blood group. 2 days later when he came for all these advanced tests, he ticked the blood group test again. My wife insisted that it has already been done and he refused to believe her. Later they found the blood grp report of the baby in my wife's file - Suckers!! And the docs reaction was classic - "OH I forgot, It was me only who had taken the sample!!!" - felt like breaking his neck.. They repeated the bilirubin test 2 times after the first test to check that the level was coming down. On the final test, the docs/nurses doing the test were so reckless that they kept pricking my baby's hand with a needle which was blocked and so no blood was coming out. Finally I shouted at them and they changed the needle and the blood came out properly. My baby's tiny hands bear 6 needle wounds and he cried like hell.. I also realized that the delay in giving the photo therapy was to keep me in the hospital for longer to slap a bigger bill on my insurance company - at the cost of the baby's life - billirubin level 22+ is knows to damage brain and hearing! My advice is to be extremely cautious with manipal hospital, its staff and everyone. If u do take their services, ask questions at each stage of their treatment; DO NOT believe the doctors blindly, it can cost u dearly and for the docs it will be just another CASE!

Note: Make sure you know in advance the common problems infants and new mothers face during first 4-8 weeks post-delivery. Ask someone with experience or search on the net. This helps in asking the right kind of questions to your gynec. The docs will not tell you even the simplest precautionary measures proactively(probably they are too busy or may be it hurts their business). There is no check-list of common problems and remidies - something which the hospital can very easily compile and provide. Suggestion is to check out the new hospital called Cradle (marathalli) which claims to specialize in maternity. But as always, be very careful with docs and have as much prior info about them as possible.