Soumya Home Nursing Service, Trichur, Kerala — Unprofessional Service - Use them at your peril

Address: Thrissur, Kerala

My father has been hospitalized for the last 7 months due to acute bed sore resulted from being bed ridden after a hip surgery. We had hired the services of a home nurse from Soumya Nursing Services to take care of my father admitted at the surgical ward at Al Shifa Hospital in Perinthalmanna. A male nurse was sent to us who stayed for three days and then left without any warning saying that room didn't have adequate facilities and some other vague reason. He left before the replacement was sent from the agency. A replacement nurse was sent the next day for which we were asked to bear the transportation expenses even though the fault was not at our end. The second nurse came and stayed for one day and walked out without informing the patient or the hospital staff. Total irresponsible behavior especially from a nurse attending an aged patient who needed assistance. His explanation for deserting the patient and running away was that he hadn't slept for the last three days, this while he was on duty only for one night with us. And when his reasoning didn't make sense it changed to he couldn't handle the patient alone and needed another nurse for his assistance and finally that he was asked to keep an account of the expenses incurred.(What really do they expect, a free rein??). We tried contacting the office and everyone there seemed to passing the onus to someone else until we got to the in-charge or owner Mr. Ajit Menon. He was extremely rude and unprofessional, very unlike the person he was when we were being offered their services earlier. He was totally biased and didn't want to investigate the matter. Instead of resolving the issue and finding out what really happened he was more interested to offer us two nurses to take care of the patient, which simply translated to double the revenue for him. On further inquiry we found that this was a standard practice with Ajit and his team especially if the patients family is from out of town, even better if its and unfortunate NRI like me. One nurse goes in and after two days he complains that the patient can't be handled by one nurse alone and then the family is left with no choice but to hire two nurses to do the job of one. The home nurse he sent had mentioned to one of the hospital staff in confidence that they like doing this duty cos its easy money without any qualification or physical exertion. They get paid twice what the hospital nurses earn. Many of the staff employed have absolutely no nursing care experience whatsoever and are just trying to make a quick buck exploiting the patient and the family. My father was being cared by two different agencies for a period of three months each (as is the contract), while the condition was critical and he was totally bedridden. And it was always one person who was caring for him. There was never a need for two people since the hospital staff and nurses were always at hand. Since then my dad is being cared for by a 62 year old person from another nursing agency and he is doing a wonderful job. We discontinued the services of Soumya Home nursing agency and on asking for a refund Mr.Ajit said that there were charges and gave lame excuses for not returning the money. His claim was that we had chosen to discontinue their services and hence we were not eligible for a full refund. He even threatened my father in law with dire consequences. There are times where we rely on such agencies to take provide professional nursing care services. But when organizations like Soumya Home nursing exploit their clients and the nurses decide to walk away leaving a bed ridden patient, it is being done with the assumption that they can get away with it. I have heard that there are other people who have had similar experiences with Soumya Nursing services. I intend to take this matter up legally so do contact me and share your experiences online so that such organizations are shut down and these people can be taken to task. It is to be understood that such people bring bad name to the entire fraternity. Please do not rely on the flashy web page alone while seeking services as this. Do due diligence as required as have to entrust our loved ones to the care of such agencies. Bottom line - Use the services of Soumya Nursing Services at your own peril