My days at Columbia Asia. Review on Columbia Asia Hospital - Malleshwaran - Bangalore

We got a baby girl on 15th April 2009 at Columbia Asia Yeshwantpur through a c-section. We prefered this hospital due to the recommendation of our gynae who is a visiting doctor at this place. In Fact we expected a lot of high-value, high-standard health care at this place. Read on for the actual experience !

We got a single room for Rs.3400 per day with an additional 8% luxury tax on top of that. As directed by our doctor, we took the admission on the previous day night on the 3rd floor. Thinking we had settled in a room, we opened our bags and spread things around in the wardrobe and bathroom, because we are going to be here for atleast 3 days.

Next day morning wife had the C-Section. It took around 3 hours in the recovery room before she got shifted to the room. Here comes the first surprise !!! No more going back to the 3rd floor, we are moved to another single room in the 2nd floor. My wife was under sedation and I had a tough time picking up things from the old room (3rd floor) and I found the tooth brushes and few bathroom stuff which we got from home just disappeared !!

I came back to the 2nd floor, someone from the admin department saw me with an "alien" face and asked me what happened ? I told him about the missing things. Anyway, he contacted the housekeeping and asked them to search for our lost things.

Atlast we moved to the 2nd floor room towards lunch time. More surprises were just waiting for us. First the TV showed its non-coporation. Once the issue is mentioned to the nursing counter, I see an electrician coming with a 5 step ladder and then its his sweet 30 mts of repair and trouble shooting. The TV started working after some struggle by the electrician.

Next surprise was the bathroom. I flushed the tank and its running non-stop. Tried all my technical knowledge on that, but had to close the main tap to stop the flush. Now its the time for the plumber to show up. Someone came and repaired it. In the next 2 hours I found the same issue and process repeated. Atlast we just left it and depended on the main tap to control the flush. Somehow the hours flew, night shift staff was very cordial and helpful. They kept taking the infant for feeds and change of diapers etc.

But it just lasted only till 2.30am. Room started heating up and we lost our already disturbed sleep. Not knowing what went wrong, I found the AC (centralised) control unit was showing malfunction. Means our AC stopped working probably around midnight. We contacted the AC guy and someone walked in around 3am and found our room panel showing malfunction. To our bad luck, AC never came back to life. The duty in charge brought a table fan which only caused an acute head ache for my wife who was under heavy medication already. We left the room around lunch time.

So, thats the 3rd room change we got in our 3 days stay at the hospital. If anyone is thinking our issues stopped there, sadly a big NO. I dont have to explain to anyone how difficult its to shift from one room to another after a surgery. On top of that, we had our things spread around in the respective rooms each time. We didn't even complete 5 hours in the 3rd room, here comes the AC issue again. My wife got really fed up with the situation and wrote a 2 page complaint letter to the admin. Oh that was another mistake we did.

Here comes a 3 hour long, each member of the admin visiting our room to say SORRY. That sorry process not only spoiled my wife's rest and sleep, but also increased the head ache which was caused by the lost sleep, heavy medication, fresh surgery wounds etc. Day time staff was horrible, they hardly knew how to burp the baby after feeds.

We almost decided "we might never return to this hospital unless every other hospital in bangalore is closed'. There are many small things which I avoid here, so that this report does not go too long. Now comes the discharge process. Our doctor made her rounds in the morning around 9am and suggested health of the baby and mother good enough to go home. We didn't know at that time, this discharge process is going to be a 6 hours waiting to get out of the building. I dont want to go into too many details here, but we managed to come out of the main door around 3.30pm, thats a long, tiring, desperate 6 hours of waiting. I think the readers would have got an idea of what is happening there. I rest my case.

We took a chance to check the branch at Hebbal too after 6 days, because our baby had a high bilirubin level (19.4) tested at a private clinic of our pedic. He suggested a phototherapy for the baby, so we thought we would prefer columbia asia hebbal due to its proximity within 4 kms. We went there, did the registration process (which was quicker than yeshwantpur branch) and we met the peadiac within 15 mts. Reports were re-checked and the phototherapy was suggested. So, we went to the reception, finished all the formalities of booking a room, paying an advance and collecting the attendee + visitor tags etc. all that lasted almost 45 mts.

Here comes trouble !!! While we were waiting to be taken to the chosen room, the admin guy announces "sir, there is no phototherapy machine vacant". We got a shock !! If there was no machine available, why did they waste our 45 mts going through all the formalities ? Thats a question thrown into the open. We took another 25 mts to cancel all what we did till then, came out of the building with a confused but sad face.

It was around 6.15pm and I just got an idea. I removed the clothes of the baby and held her in my arms facing the setting sun rays. The security guy came and asked me what I am doing in front of the main entrance of the hospital, which he has never seen before. I smiled at him and said, " We came for a phototherapy, met the doctor, paid money, got the passes too, but... no machine is available for my baby. So, I am giving her the natural phototherapy under the SUN." He got so touched by my expression and the clarity of the message.

Summary: If you have lots of money to spent, lots of patience levels but wish for a good team of doctors, prefer this place. Healthcare, cafeteria, doctors and the system are top-standard. Handling issues, technical errors, patient concerns are nowhere near average. If you are lucky enough to have no technical issues in your treatment or admitted period, this is the place to go.