Ok, so, I had already heard a few of the points I will raise here as the negatives. I still went there because I did not have many good options due to my patient’s condition and my location. AVOID GOING TO THIS HOSPITAL IF YOU CAN.
The good:
Ok, so let me state the good because that list is small, but important. Hospital is capable of handling major cases. They have skilled doctors (my case wasn’t as complex I think), equipment and overall setup. Of course, they are one of the biggest hospitals in the region unless you go to Kolkata. Nursing staff was good. Hospital was clean. The general wards etc were over crowded, but you can expect that as, again, it’s the largest and most renowned hospital in the region, other than hospitals in Kolkata.
The bad:
Long list. They are expensive but you should expect that, it’s a private major hospital and of course it’s a business. Cost wise I think they are at par with Apollo or any other major chains in Delhi and Kolkata.
BUT, they are dishonest. Frivolous billing is a norm.
We challenged them on several items and they corrected it. It wasn’t a genuine mistake, it was just dishonest, unethical practice.
They charged me separately, at 10x retail price, for normal hygiene items that their staff was using as routine. Like the face mask, latex gloves (normal gloves, not even the surgical ones) etc. In big quantities, 10x retail market price. Example - face mask, like 20 each day charged to my room, at Rs 40/each. Retail will cost like Rs 100 or 200 for a pack of 50 or 100.
There was 1 item I verified retail cost because I needed it post discharge. Retail was 10% of what they were charging.
But, my biggest problem with the hospital is post discharge service. DON'T EXPECT ANY. Nada, zip.
Don’t bother calling them for a few seconds consultation with doctor, just to ask about a medication that they prescribed, if it has any adverse reaction/affect or if it’s not working well, ANY BLOODY THING!! DO T BOTHER CALLING THEM. They will ask you to bring the patient to hospital. I guess so they can bill you for the visit.
In my case, a surgical case, my patient was discharged a few days after last round of surgery (after a 15 day stay at hospital, in a private room, at a huge cost). The wound was still greasy and would have taken another 2-3 weeks to heal. It was left open, pending further healing, before final closure. The revisit was scheduled after 2 weeks. So, in a way, I was still under treatment at this hospital/under that doctor. STILL, even doctor’s assistant refused to come on phone for a few seconds when I wanted to bounce off a prescription related question. They said I either have to bring the patient to hospital or someone from patient’s family has to come. This was not related to ‘we can’t advise because I need to see the condition with my own eyes’. They just wouldn’t talk to you at all. You are left high and dry once you leave the hospital.
And, they were so paranoid about billing and payments that they refused to take the IV out until final payment and no dues clearance was received. As if I was going to pickup my patient and run.
Discharge instructions were a mere formalities, although my patient needed a lot of those. I had to literally beg for info. Their primary focus was bill payment, even though I was a cash paying patient and was up to date 95% all the time on my payments (or they would have stopped medication).
Oh, here is a trivial thing but shows their lack of professionalism. They dumped all my X-ray films (I had quite a few) in a cloth bag at the time of discharge. I’m like shouldn’t you have paper envelopes for these? ‘Sir, this is how we provide it’.
I’m like I paid for detergent to wash your uniform, I’ll pay you for envelopes, please put them in envelopes.
Overall: I did not meet a single person (non-insurance) who would not say that they are crooks.
But, if you don’t care about cost, and have no other better options, they can definitely treat your condition, they are capable.
