Good Doctor but shoddy diagnostics department. Review on Apollo Hospital - Bannerghatta - Bangalore

I am visiting the cardiology department and the experience with both the doctor as well as the staff in that department is very professional and satisfying.

Well managed appointments with a helpful attitude puts anyone at rest even before meeting the doctor. In my case the doctor too is good and has provided adequate time and attention in my visits.

However the diagnostics departments are the exact opposite. My experience has been horrible. Twice my diagnostics were about to be done under the name of another patient and almost at every instance they were completely unable to guide me on when to come for sample collection, what is the fasting time and I was made to come to the hpspital thrice on three consequent days for sample collection that could have easily been done on one single day.

firstly the different diagnostics teams are completely fragmented and there is no single person or deptt that can guide the patient holistically. so things that can be sequenced and finished in a few hours or within one day drags on for days wasting time for no additional benefit

Secondly they are only concerned about "MY JOB" therefore just don't care for the patient running around

Thirdly there is no obvious feedback or escalation mechanism that can bring such incidents and gaps to the attention of senior management who can perhaps put some solution to it

If I had not questioned the name on the file the technician was holding while begining the tests on myself, my test report would have been happily tagged to the wrong patient and someone else's to me and the hospital could have merrily sent both of us to our respective funerals. So every patient should ensure they are getting correct reports and files

Some of the tests that were prescribed were not done at apollo so they have outsourced it but have lost complete control and accountability over it. The patient is made to run around while they are unable to manage the time schedules with this outsourced vendor(s) and also have the audacity to act as if they are doing a favour by getting the tests done. Mind you, the tests are being done on payment and not charity.

I have not put names since I don't believe such callous and repeated incidents indicate an individual failure instead those are symptoms of a systemic failure in the process itself which could have disastrous consequences for someone if not caught and corrected in time.

I'd be very happy to provide details to anyone senior from the hospital should anyone bother to respond.