APATHY AT APOLLO. Review on Apollo Gleneagles Hospital - Kadapara - Kolkata

I would like to share the recent ordeal that I and my family experienced in the handling / treatment of my late father-in-law Mr. Anil Chakraborty by one of the so-called renowned Super Specialty Hospitals in Kolkata. He was admitted to Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Kolkata on the evening of 28 August 2016 that too after waiting for four hours in a critical condition. My father-in-law was a CKD Stage V patient undergoing regular dialysis since May 2014. Recently he suffered a brain stroke during sleep and went into deep coma. We have decided to treat him one of the best available possibilities in Kolkata - Apollo Gleneagles.

I was surprised to see that at the Emergency where he was received, he was a subject of study for different junior doctors and nurses. They provided us with variety of adept opinions(with their great knowledge and experience). We were repeatedly enquiring when Dr. Amitava Ghosh(under whom he was supposed to be admitted) the renowned Neurosurgeon and HOD in Apollo Kolkata would come and visit the patient. They were least bothered on our concerns and were pretty happy that they have received a live experimental / study material. If this shudders a cold wave through your spine I am helpless, but this was the reality.

Dr. Ghosh came after some time and asked us to give him a day to understand the condition of the patient. He was later admitted to the ICU that too after having a reliable source within the hospital. God knows what happens to people having such patients without any dependable confidant / channel.

The next day there was no improvement of my father-in-law and we were handed over a bill of around Rs. 1, 10, 000/-(Rupees One Lakh Ten Thousand) in less than 24hrs of his stay. When I asked about the itemized bill they provided me with the same and I found that my father-in-law have consumed medicines worth Rs. 35, 000/- in less than 24 hrs and medical tests / studies done to ascertain his condition were around Rs. 50, 000/-! That day I went to the ICU and asked the on duty RMO / Nurses / Medicine Representative about the same and they declined to speak on this. I really felt that I am trapped in this money minting machine but still had hope about the quality of treatment that the hospital provides. I have given a verbal instruction to the on duty staff in the ICU that before undergoing any medical tests please inform me the test name and the reason to do such a test. The RMO Dr. Chandrashish was very much upset on this and intimated / shown me the papers that I have signed, before admitting my father-in-law, wherein I have provided full authority to the doctors / staff to carry out any tests or procure any medicines deemed necessary for the patient. Please try to understand how they play with the emotions of the millions. As an Indian citizen based on the RTI, I have the right to seek information to every single penny that the Honorable Government of India spends and I cannot put forth the same right for information for my own father-in-law.

The next day during the morning visiting hours, my wife met Dr. Ghosh at the ICU and enquired about the physical status of her father. This in-human doctor, Dr. Ghosh instead of explaining her about the physical state of her father in a positive attitude, complained that why I came to the ICU in the previous day and asked the on-duty staff to inform us before any medical tests. Dr. Ghosh in his best apathetical way explained that he has spent Rupees Eleven Lakhs for his own mother in the same hospital and he cannot save her life. Just try to feel the pain he was injecting to the crying daughter in front of her father in deep coma. As if my verbal instruction will stop them to undergo any tests. They were already trying to create a shield to hide their inability to treat such critical patients. Finally he asked that he need to undergo a Lumber Puncture Test to ascertain the status of the patient. We told fine please go ahead. In between scores of other medical tests were conducted atleast on paper. For information, the Lumber Puncture Test the hospital handed me a bill of around Rs. 35, 000/-. I checked from other sources, the same test outside with all medical reports that the doctor have instructed, costs around Rs. 5000/- to Rs.5500/-. I understand that he is in ICU wherein the test need to be done in his bedside. But for this 7 times more! Please think.

The Super Specialty Hell(SSH) perhaps the right term to define such place, is continuously fishing out(extorting) money to the extent of Rupees One Lakh per day on an average without any minutest improvement in the condition of the patient. Everyday after the visiting hours in the evening, we tried to meet Dr. Ghosh in his OPD but to our utter dismay he spoke with us on his way to his parking without allotting a single minute in his chamber to explain the condition of the patient to the aggrieved family. Just think, we are paying lakhs of rupees for the betterment of the patient and this vicious doctor do not have the courtesy / responsibility / work ethics /professionalism to explain the situation of his patient under his treatment to the patient family. Actually if we think in a Professional / Business manner, we are his Client to whom he is answerable. And is this the right way to behave with your Clients! Then we understood that these guys are not prudent / knowledgeable enough to treat this case. So he is trying to shy away from legitimate questions that we may fire at him. My family really felt these doctors don’t even know their subject well. By the way in the mean time the dream test of Dr. Ghosh "Lumber Puncture" was done and the reports confirmed(when I asked for) that he has no infection. At this time I countered, the simple WBC report of the patient done from the same SSH indicates a WBC count of 16, 000(suggesting infection in the patient's body) wherein the celebrated "Lumber Puncture" test does not indicate any infection! When I asked this question as a layman to the on duty nurses and RMO, to my complete surprise, they dodged this question and avoided to speak with me any further on this regard.

My father-in-law was prescribed with an antibiotic which the SSH was charging around Rupees Three Thousand Six Hundred per injection three times a day. I checked the price of the same medicine on the internet it was around rupees nine hundred and when I checked the same medicine in our local medicine shop they informed that the MRP is around Rs. 1100/- but they can provide me within Rs. 1050/- per injection. I informed the same to the Medical Superintendant and she directed me to the HOD Medicines Mr. Reddy in the same SSH. When I asked Mr. Reddy about the cost difference of this medicine he handed me an excel printout(after hiding several columns!) which indicates that the "Issued MRP" of the medicine is Rs. 3600/- I checked with Mr. Reddy what this "Issued MRP" is all about and who coined the term. Government of India? Sorry No Answer. I checked with him whether I can procure this medicine from outside and provide the same to the doctors at which he responded in the negative.

After eight days without slightest improvement of my father-in-law(physical) and bearing this torture(mental) we checked with Dr. Ghosh will it be prudent to shift the patient to our local Nursing Home where he was under regular check-ups and dialysis under Dr. Samit Chatterjee. He was OK with this decision and advised that not much he can do to treat this patient with his knowledge and expertise. This he admitted after eight long days. We then decided to shift my father-in-law and informed the SSH authorities about the same. He was supposed to get a regular dialysis on the day prior to his discharge(we also seen the dialysis machines / consoles beside his ICU bed). The next day when we are discharging him we asked about the dialysis reports the previous day on which to our greatest surprise they nurses / RMO informed that dialysis was not done. Just think the negligence. For a CKD Stage V patient like him twice / thrice a week dialysis is a must and not doing that is just like killing / murdering the patient. They increased their scale of negligence the moment they understood that we will shift the patient and their loot on this patient will soon be over. Everybody from the young inexperienced nurses in the ICU, the on duty RMO's, the doctors, medical staff, billing / insurance handling staff everybody are religiously educated in this SSH how to become licensed Medical Looting Centre augmented with their negligence and lack of knowledge to treat patients.

My father-in-law was later shifted to our local nursing home at around 7:00 pm in the evening where he breathed his last at 9:05 am on the following day.

So I strongly recommend not coming at this SSH for treatment of your near and dear ones. Every one working here are without any moral and ethics. The technical staffs are amateur and their attitude is like they are working in NASA in some rocket science project. We do several reviews even before visiting a hotel / restaurant. And this is the question of our near ones. Please spend a minute to have a review about the SSH from the following links before admitting your patient in Apollo. The above details are strictly me and my family’s personal experience that I am sharing including but not limited to hospital, hospital authorities, doctors, staff, prevailing systems etc. Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of others.

https://consumercomplaints.in/complaints/apollo-gleneagles-hospital-kolkata-wes
t-bengal-c485606.html

https://mouthshut.com/product-reviews/Apollo-Gleneagles-Hospital-Kadapara-Kolkata-reviews-925109744

https://complaintboard.in/complaints-reviews/apollo-gleneagles-kolkata-l174171.html

https://complaintsboard.com/complaints/apollo-hospital-kolkata-c495731.html

https://complaintboard.com/apollo-hospital-kolkata-l289.html

https://pbtindia.com/archives/2721