Jun 24, 2019
Updated by Arun Sarawgi My mother-in-law had her left lung sepsis with loculated left pleural effusion with atelectasis.and she was being treated in Dibrugarh in Assam. The Doctors looking after her advised surgery. However, after much deliberation and consultation with friends/family we decided to take her to Medanta – The Medicity Hospital in Gurugram, Haryana (Medanta) for getting her the best medical care. Since she could not be moved in a regular train or a flight, she was brought to Delhi in an Air-Ambulance, then onwards to the hospital on 18th May.
On 20th May 2019, we had a discussion with the doctor, before the start of the treatment, our budget Rs 7 to 9 lac. It was discussed very clearly that if the hospital is able to treat our patient within the aforementioned budget then only they should go ahead. There was an understanding about the budget in-principle, that’s why the treatment was started by the doctors at Medanta. However, after more than a month of treatment they haven’t been able to cure the patient. The initially agreed budget was exhausted towards early June, however on hospital’s advice, and in view of patient’s non-improving condition, we continued to keep the patient under treatment by the hospital; even when there doesn’t appear to be a clear line of treatment apparent from the hospital.
On 20th May 2019, due to a procedural mistake by an assistant doctor when he was trying to take out fluid from the patient’s lungs resulted in bleeding in the throat; for which the patient was put on ventilator. It took the patient another 25 days to pass the “Swallow-Test”. During this time, unfortunately, the patient also caught an bacterial infection due to poor handling of medical equipment – caused by a bacteria *Klebsiella*; This bacterial infection appears to be common in hospitals with poor hygiene standards.
These lapses are telling on Medanta hospital’s medical and hygiene standards. Clearly, the hospital appears to be staffed by incompetent individuals and their sole purpose appears to extract money from patient’s family citing one pretext or another.
Moreover, even after spending so much money, there appears to be an understaffing of nurses, resulting in poor attention imparted to under-treatment patients; and possibly resulting in hygiene issues resulting in in-hospital infections.
Now, even after a treatment of 30+ days, the patient condition hasn’t improved and this insistence on continuity of treatment has been severely affecting our ability to afford the treatment further. After some hard questioning and seeking explanations from the doctors, we are asked to take back our patient!!!
Does the hospital have no sense of ethics or ownership? If it is too much to ask, do they at least have a sense of responsibility or accountability towards a patient and their family?
This stance is appalling and in complete disregard of an individuals’ faith that is instilled on an reputable hospital such as Medanta. We travelled more than 2000 kms in an Air-Ambulance, all the way from Dibrugarh, only to be fleeced by a *greedy, apathetic, insensitive AND clearly incompetent* organization that only cares about stealing money from hapless citizens of this country by recommending redundant treatments to prolong a patient’s stay in the hospital.
