Recently, I had to admit my father to a hospital. Thankfully he is in perfect shape after his discharge (yesterday). He was suffering from a high fever for around 10 days and after a few tests (one which somehow said that he was suffering from typhoid), our general physician asked us to admit him into a hospital immediately. We decided to admit him into a well known hospital near Salt Lake,touted to be one of the best in the city. My father knew a few of the doctors there and it was logical to move him there since personally knowing a doctor is something one should bank on (although I am sure that most of us will never have that luxury). When one of the doctors checked my father, he was asked to get admitted into the emergency ward immediately. While he was being admitted, the real sad tale of Indian health care sprung up. This was an emergency case and my dad needed emergency care, guess how long it took me to get him admitted properly, even though I had all the documents ready and we had already spoken to the insurance company. It took me close to 5 hours, starting from his registration (which only people who have knowledge of English can fill in). Then I had to run from one building to another, thrice, just so that I could get some documents photocopied. That wasnt the end of that, in between all this, I am being constantly called into the emergency ward as the Doctors need more information, while I am being reminded that I must submit all the documents within 24 hours so that my dad would receive proper care. If that is not harrowing enough for someone to take one person to the emergency ward, they keep asking questions while you are worried about your relative. I was able to finish his admission into the hospital at 6 PM when I started the process at around 12 PM on the same day. The next day was the 15 of August and there were barely any doctors present, my dad had to get a procedure done and fortunately my dads friend called up the doctor and she completed the process, she told me she would have done it tomorrow but since she was called by a friend she did it. (Again, 90% of the people of India will never have this chance of a doctor doing a procedure on a call). A couple of days later, while my dad was still in the ICU, the hospital insurance team start calling me up for payment and they constantly call me on a monday (15th was a friday) telling me to either get details from the insurance team or I would have to pay the amount as a deposit and later claim it from the hospital once the insurance gets cleared. This could have waited till monday evening since almost every office was closed for the weekend. Again, thankfully I had access to the HR from my dads office who was a great help as he was coordinating and talking with our insurance team and keeping them on the alert so that they work fast. On the day of his discharge, I call up the hospital to ask them what the process is and what documents I would need to carry but I am told that they will call me back and let me know the details. I never received that call, instead I had to go to the hospital, only knowing a provisional bill amount. When I reach the hospital, I visit the discharge unit and they tell me that the reply from the insurance team has not come yet. (There was a lot of mails flying between the hospital and my insurance for some clarification over the procedure since monday, the day of discharge was wednesday). Later on I get to know that the hospital has to send the discharge summary to the insurance team before they can approve the payment and release my dad. I ask them when will this happen, they will me by 3o Clock, My dad is perfectly fine and is ready to go but the Doctor team has not come in yet, so a patient is ready to leave but the Doctor team will take time, getting this summary took me close to 3 hours. At 4 PM I go to the discharge team and they tell me that they are letting their doctor check the details before they send it to my insurance team. After pestering them a lot, I was able to sit inside while they were discussing my dads treatment and then they find out the discharge summary does not have any indication as to how they reached a consensus to do the procedure for my dad. In other terms the discharge summary was wrong and needed to be corrected, a last minute hiccup? No, the doctor tried to explain its not her fault and that they would have to talk to the doctor who had done the procedure or any junior doctor from the gastro department. Cue another hour of running around before the said doctor spoke to the doctor who had done the procedure. When I asked them if I could take my father back today, they couldnt assure me that he would be released today since the insurance teams reply would allow that. Its 6PM now, thankfully the team reply by 6:11 PM, a record, according to the hospital sources, since normally the insurance teams take around an hour to respond. I get the approval and run (yes , run) to pay the bill, which is not anywhere near the floor I am scurrying about but on the third floor. Three security checks later, I end up in the billing department, (who only open till 8 PM), 20 minutes later I was able to pay for the services in the emergency ward. (Not covered by any insurance). I take the discharge slip and run back to the second floor and submit the slip to a nurse who finally allows my dad to leave at 7:30 PM. The whole discharge process could have been done in a couple of hours, instead they took around 7 hours. Also, the discharge summary has the time printed for my dads discharge at 9:34 AM, while I take him home at 7:30 PM. I am appalled at the condition of these hospitals, private ones especially. This was a harrowing experience and my dad actually knew a lot of people hence I did not face as much harassment and issues that every normal Indian would. This was the worst experience of my life that too during Independence day, our country might be free but is it really free from the nonsense normal, everyday Indians have to deal with? Again, I am sure people have to deal with much worse than I have had to, I guess the only people safe are the mega wealthy.(Cricketers, Actors, Politicians and Industrialists).
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 06:40:05 +0000
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