SHOCKER How a top Mumbai hospital sold contaminated bottled water and then washed the trail. MUMBAI: It started as a complaint about some fungus-like matter in a bottle of mineral water purchased by an outpatient, but now it has turned into a full-fledged scandal that has exposed the length to which a five-star healthcare centre and a multinational beverage giant will go to conceal the truth from the public. Advertising professional Abhay Singh accompanied his friend Akanksha Nehra to the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital last Monday where she underwent a check-up. Being a holiday (Ganesh Chaturthi) the hospital was charging a fifty per cent surcharge on its normal fee for every consultation and test. The doctor on duty informed Akanksha that he suspected a kidney ailment and suggested a battery of tests, which took almost 4 hours to complete. “The doctor told my friend to drink a lot of water before she went in for the tests, so I went to the food court near the in-house chemist shop to buy some bottles of mineral water. The counter salesman told me the normal variety (Aquafina) was out of stock but he had a new brand called Vedica, which was manufactured by Bisleri. As against Rs 18 for a litre of regular bottled water, this brand costs Rs 50 a litre. Since I didn’t have an option, I bought two half litre bottles,” said Abhay. But when he noticed some fungus-like matter in the half-consumed bottle, Abhay checked the other bottle – which was still sealed – and discovered that it too had similar floating matter inside it. “My friend was being told to drink water and this is the kind of bottled water being sold within the hospital? I told the doctor on duty about this and went back to report this to the salesman as well. The cashier refunded me the money and called up the quality control department of the hospital, but apparently the lady in charge of the department was on leave. But the cashier did alert all other counters selling the brand about the problem,” he said. The next day, the matter was also reported to Bisleri through their helpline. A spokesperson from the company soon reverted with an apology and requested that the remaining sealed bottle be quickly couriered to them so that it could be tested in their in-house lab. They even offered to immediately send across 20 bottles as compensation for the inconvenience. In contrast, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital authorities completely hushed up the matter. When Abhay approached Mumbaiwalla, we got in touch with senior officials of KDAH. While they denied any knowledge of this incident, they did promise to look into the matter. DENIAL, EVASION AND LIES After that, despite repeated attempts to contact senior officials at the hospital, no one responded. When two more days had passed, the hospital officials finally reverted – but only with a blanket denial. They in fact suggested that both the complainants were lying and claimed the hospital only retailed Aquafina brand of bottled water. “As conveyed earlier, we don’t use any Bisleri brand at all. Let me put on record that our water is tested on an ongoing basis in the lab to ensure that no compromise is done in the quality of the water or in any other service in the hospital,” said Nivedita Nanda, who is the Chief People Officer with the hospital’s parent company, Reliance Health. The unbelievable about-turn by the hospital left both the complainants stunned. “We have witnesses, the purchase receipt and enough proof that we bought the bottles inside the hospital. How can they call us liars?” demanded Abhay. Meanwhile, with Nivedita Nanda not answering any calls or replying to messages after that brief exchange, Mumbaiwalla finally got in touch with K Narayan, the CEO of the hospital. When he was briefed about the issue, Narayan said that he would try to find out more. However, when Mumbaiwalla contacted him the next day, he just brushed off the matter. “I’m not in office today and I will be going in only next week. So I will probably check this out then,” he said. After some effort, we finally managed to reach Tushar Motiwala, the director of KDAH who is considered to be very close to the hospital’s chief patron, Tina Ambani. In fact, Tushar is related to the Ambanis – he is the husband of Tina’s sister Bhavna. Shockingly, even he shrugged off the matter. “I’m not involved with this in any way. If it was regarding an issue about some doctor, I could have done something. Please get in touch with the concerned person, who is Nivedita Nanda. If she is not responding, I can’t help,” he told Mumbaiwalla. mumbaiwalla/shocker-top-mumbai-hospital-sold-contaminated-bottled-water-washed-trail/
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:28:29 +0000
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