Apollo Hospital — about the excessive charges, unnecessary tests and high cost and mediocre quality treatment

Address:

Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, 58 Canal Curcular Road,Kolkata, PIN-700054, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700054

I have taken consultation with pulmonologist dr subhajit ghosh last friday at apollo hospital, kolkata for treatment of my 80 year old father-dipak ranjan roy who was suffering from acute cough and cold.
He has suggested lot of tests/investigations and advised to admit him and get the investigations/tests and treatment done, we consented and then they admitted in the crowded emergency ward (Not really required) where they gave nebulizations and other iv fluids. We requested to shift to general ward and discharge in one or two days as we never felt his case was that serious, however after repeated requests, he was shifted to hdu unit where the rent is high. I did ask about the estimate and costs from the insurance desk from day 1 itself, but they never revealed and kept telling that my tpa will inform, when i called the tpa, they told me that the estimation was given for rs 1.75 lakhs and then i immediately called up the hospitals and asked to stop the tests/investigations and we will talk to the doctor to discharge him sunday itself. However when we talked to the doctor and other staff on sunday, we were told that dama (Discharge against medical advice) will be given and we will not get any claim for the amount of rs 82k which was billed by them so far. So we requested to officially discharge asap. They told they will shift to general ward which they did by keeping in the same hdu unit (Without any monitoring device) do it and we didn't have an option. However we were surprised that they continued to do all investigations and our bill shot to rs 1, 18, 000 on monday, 1, 37, 000 on tuesday and 1, 67, 000 on wednesday. They also gave him normal temperature cold water for swallowing medicines (When they knew he had pneumonia as per their tests and should not have given cold water) which he avoided and due to which his urine outflow came down from normal levels and blood also came out on sunday which also gave them the excuse of doing more tests related to urology and keep for more days. They kept telling me that they have to do more tests and hence cannot release on monday or tuesday. Finally when i persisted to get him released, they agreed to release on wednesday after putting up a bill of rs 1.67 lakhs and after lot of requests, they have adjusted 10k for the room rent and one percent discount.
The insurance tpa has given the entire sum assured of rs 1 lakh and i have to pay the rest amount of 49k. Now my parents are not left with any coverage for the rest of the year. I have done treatment for my family in lot of hospitals in bengaluru (Including manipal) where facilities are better than apollo gleangles, kolkata but nowhere they have cheated patients like they did in apollo gleangles, kolkata.

Btw my father's condition has hardly improved only 30 % and he is still coughing after release. They told that tests reveal that he had pneumonia with crp level of.46 which is well within control.

The total expense should never have crossed 30k as my father was not that serious to be admitted in emergency/hdu unit.

So i would at least expect apollo to refund at least 1.3 l (60k back to me and 60k to the insurance company) so that my parents are covered properly for any real emergency for the rest of the year and also for further medical treatment in other good hospitals.
Later i came to know that apollo is known for illogical and excessive billing and middle class people should avoid this hospital under all circumstances.