Columbia Asia Hospital — Careless treatment in emergency section

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Bangalore, Karnataka

Hello This is with regards my recent experience in Columbia Asia Hospital Whitefield Branch, Bangalore. I am a chronic seizure patient on regular medication suggested by NIMHANS neurologist. I had seizure episodes on 7th Jan 2014 (wednesday) in my office around 8 pm and got injured on my right elbow. I was getting multiple episodes till I reach hospital and my colleagues who have witnessed, were accompanying me. I was taken to emergency section and Dr. Manepalli Sanghamitra (duty Doctor) has attended who was not at all efficient to handle patients admitted in emergency. He was arguing that I might not have got seizure, may be just fainted due to Low BP (Mean while they checked my BP and it was normal) even after my friends and I were explaining my medical history and what has happened till we reached hospital. The worst part was nobody was bothered to clean my wound as it was bleeding, even after requesting repeatedly to the staffs available over there. The doctor asked me to either get admitted till next day morning to meet the neurologist or go back home and wait till I get another seizure episode. This was a choice given to me as a patient I have to make decision. This conversation took more than an hour and mean while I got another seizure episode in front of them and my hand which was already injured started bleeding again. This is when the doctor realized to call their oncall Neurologist (Dr. Nithin Kumar) and ask for assistance. I was given with Fosolin 2ML Injection and Fosolin 10 ML IV as per Neurologist. However they put dressing on my wound with out even cleaning it or applying any medicine. When I asked if the wound require switchering, the duty doctor told me that it is NOT required and I need to leave it open afterwrads and it will heal by itself. Looking at the treatment quality, I decided to get discharged and take rest at home. They asked my signature for refusal of treatment which I did, as I did not see any kind of treatment. When I asked 2-3 nurses to clean my wound atleast before I leave, one of the staffs came to clean my wound and due to his careless, he cut my skin along with cutting my old plaster in my hand. This was highly irritating for a patient who is already in pain with injury on one hand and IV on the other hand, Hospital staffs are contributing more pain just because of carelessness. I think a normal person from outside will pay more attention than what I have experienced here. I would also like to mention here that the discharge procedure was very slow and we were waiting for 1.5 hours to get the Bill and make the payment. I have paid Rs. 1300 around as my bill for getting no proper treatment. I was back home around 2 AM and when I got up next day morning (Thursday), my lips and eye lids were swollen, dry mouth and I had breathing difficulty. As I was already tired, I could not go back to hospital on the same day. On Friday morning I started getting rashes on my body with itching and hence I took an appointment with same Neurologist Dr Nithin Kumar for 1:45 PM to 2:00 PM. My brother and I reached hospital at 1:50 PM and the doctor has already left for lunch break. It is their duty to fix up an appointment with doctor after checking the lunch break timing and we had to wait till 3:30 PM to meet the neurologist. The doctor seems to be careless or unknown about the side affects I have due to the extra dosage given in emergency. And he referred me to dermatologist to check the rashes and cosmetologist to check my wound as it was paining for me and difficult to move my arm. Dermatologist Dr. Sunaina Hameed has recognized my symptoms as side affect of the drug and informed Dr. Nithin about the same. I have been taking several medications and drugs from my age of 14 years (20 years) and I have never had any allergy for any medicines till date. When I mentioned the same to Dr Nithin, he said it differs from people to people and this is a NEW medicine I tested on. That sounded very funny as if I understand you should not test new medicines on patient who come in emergency or else " The Duty doctor atleast should have the courtesy to ask if I am allergic to any medicine", which they did not. I have been to other hospitals and this is the first question they ask always before they start any medication from their side. Dermatologist has advised to take steroid tablets for 10 days now and I have marks on my face and body due to rashes which is very obvious and irritating. After that, I was referred to Cosmetologist Dr Sandhya Subrahmanyam to check my wound and she asked me why did not I ask for switchering as first question. So That means the would required switchering atleast for faster healing and less scar, and this was not informed to me by anybody in Emergency. Now I have done the switchering as it was less 48 hours time and the very next day, my pain came under control. I was charged Rs.600 for each Doctor as consultation fee (Rs. 1200 for Neuroligist and Dermatologist) and I had to pay Rs.3100 around for my steroid tablets and switchering charges (including Cosmetologist consultation fee). I was in hospital till 7 pm on that day to finish all these procedure which was again very tiring as I was just out of my bed and sitting in OP through out the day. Now I am taking extra medicines for the neuro medicine reaction and it is difficult for me as I am already taking my regular tablets in heavy dosage. I would like to highlight here that Dr Sunaina Hameed and Dr Sandhya Subrahmanyam have done their job very perfectly and their approach to the patient and treatment were excellent. Because of these 2 Doctors, my wound is healed almost and I have no more rashes as of now. On the same day, I personally met PRO in the hospital and raised all these concern. I was surprised to hear from her explanation that the duty doctors in emergency are just MBBS and they would not know if the wound requires switchering or not.I have been to other hospitals and duty doctors have even done switchering in my history. Later she promised me that some Chief Officer would give me a call to discuss on this which never happened. I preferred Columbia Asia hospital thinking that they have on call Specialist doctors available. If this is the situation, I would never suggest anybody to visit this hospital for any emergency. I have never noticed such lack of responsibility first time in Bangalore and also first time in Columbia Asia hospital Whitefield branch. I have been to Columbia Asia Hospital in Hebbal and Yesvantapur with my friends for their treatment, which are well organized and I have heard good feedback about Doctors over there. Summary: Following are my main complaints about Columbia Asia Hospital Whitefield Branch: 1. I had to pay extra money and time in OPD to get my treatment completed where as this could have been more easier to finish off in emergency itself. 2. I suffered side affects and take extra medicines due to the mistake of Neurologist by testing new medicine. By the way, there is only one Neurologist available in that hospital. 3. Lack of knowledge of Duty doctor and Emergency sections staffs are careless towards the patient. 4. The Neurologist looks like no clue about the side affects that medicines can give, as initially he was commenting the rashes as the wound I got when I fell down. 5. Very slow procedure to get bill in emergency as I had to wait for 2 hours almost with my health condition to go back home. 6. Staffs have no clue while giving Doctor appointment if the doctor would be available or when is the Lunch break. Or I am not sure if Neurologist took an early lunch break, if so he should not give an appointment at that time. 7. The treatment which could have finished in 1-2 days, now I am going through it for a week and I am not sure how long it will take. I guess till I complete my steroid tablets for 10 days as prescribed or more than that. 8. The pain I have taken on all these days which was avoidable due to proper approach and the leaves I have taken from office due their lack of proper treatment. Looking for an explanation from their concerned team and the corrective action they are going to work on it. Regards Shaseena A