SPECIALITY HOSPITAL. Review on Narayana Health - Anekal Taluk - Bangalore

Narayan Hrudalaya

Intoduction

Narayana Hrudalaya is a specialty hospital in Bangalore. It is located on Hosur Road, in the Bommsandra Industrial area. Hosur town is only 18 km from the Hospital. In this location it started about 5 years back. We went there recently for the treatment of our grand child. In Mumbai the paediatricians(more than one) refer to the cardiac consultant, Dr. Bharat Dalvi. In the hospital in Bangalore all patients from Mumbai were referred by Dr. Dalvi. The popularity of Narayana Hrudalaya is world wide or at least among the countries of Africa and Asia. In the ward, we came across people from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Africa(Zambia, Zimbabwe), and various cities in India; Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and so on. We were impressed by the layout of the hospital and the arrangements. Director of the hospital is Dr. Devi Shetty. Dr. Devi Shetty was interviewed by Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief the Indian Express in his programme ‘Walk the Talk’ on NDTV.

The Hospital

Narayana Hrudalaya perhaps treated only cardiac problems In the beginning. Over the years it has added other departments; neurology and neurosurgery, paediatric cardiology and paediatric cardiac surgery, gastroenterology, orthopaedics etc. The hospital has a large number of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. There is also a Narayana Hrudalaya Institute of Cardiac Sciences. There handout lists the names of twelve doctors as Consultant cardiologists and the same number as Cardiac Surgeons including its Director Dr. Devi Shetty. The layout of the hospital is very impressive and functionally very efficient. As you enter the hospital premises from the service road, there is a small well maintained garden in front of the hospital building. In an enclosure there you will find God’s abode: Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and Christian. People can be seen to be worshipping there as per their belief and “shraddha”.

The hospital design is excellent and unique. Entrance to the hospital building is through a foyer in the center. The main building front is all glass and one enters through glass doors. One enters a very high ceiling waiting area completely laid with chairs for patients and esc*rts. The waiting area is huge and divided in two sections by the very big and open reception, registration, funds enquiry and payment counters in a row in the center. On the left side is a long desk which is occupied by, “May I help you staff”, for accommodation, travel, and visiting passes and other guidance. Next to the desk are stairs which lead you to the basement for admission, etc. In front are very neatly and impressively placed counters for registration, payments and funds enquiry. One goes to the other side of this big hall from the left or the right of the central counters. On the other side is again a huge waiting area as in the front. The whole area has very high ceiling with glass top for as to get natural light, the sun light, to come in during the day and in spite of the crowd does not look congested. The staff has dress code. The inner waiting area faces the consulting rooms of the doctors in a sort of semi circular layout. In the center of this row of rooms is a gallery to go to the back side to other consulting rooms and testing laboratories. In front of each consulting room is the desk of the doctor’s assistant(PA). If you have a prior appointment the procedure is simple. The PA tells you to register and sends somebody with you to guide you to the right place. File of the patient is made for the doctor to make his entries. On the back side are also the elevators to go up to the wards and the operation theater.

After first examination by the doctor the patient is sent for registration and his file is made. The doctor may direct for various tests and examinations in different departments of the hospital. Somebody is sent with you to reach the testing room or the other consulting room and one does not have to fend for oneself. Discipline is high class, cleanliness is great and every other requirement is well placed. The ground floor occupies the consulting rooms and test laboratories. Higher floors have Operation Theater, ICCU, and wards. Children’s ward is on the third floor.

The whole place is manned by security personnel. You cannot enter the elevator area without a pass. Passes(2) are issued along with the admission of the patient. Most of the security personnel are women and completely dedicated. Each floor has the security personnel in the lobby as you get out of the lift. The wards are again separated by doors from the lobby. No outside cooked food is allowed unless you have taken prior permission as was done by the Pakistani and other Nationals. There is a Canteen, a cake, biscuit and some snacks shop, a medical shop, optometrist, telephone booth and so on all the required facilities.

Our Visit and Treatment

We had gone there for the treatment of our grandson, (daughter’s son) only 5 months old. My daughter felt the child’s breathing and heart beat were not normal. She told this to the regular pediatrician who examined and immediately referred to a paediatric cardiac specialist, all this in Mumbai. After thorough check up and examination(2D Echocardiography) he told us that there is a defect in his heart. Actually in medical parlance it is called VSD i.e. ventricular septal defect. As a result of this fresh or oxygenated blood gets mixed with the impure blood. This means that the child’s body(organs) does not get full nourishment/energy. Since the child was not growing, not gaining weight the specialist here in Mumbai suggested early operation rather than wait for the possibility of natural healing. He talked to the surgeon there and arranged for us to go and consult him. We got appointment for August 10 at 10 in the morning. We flew on August 9 and were there by afternoon and reported to the doctor’s PA and informing of our arrival for the appointment. The Hospital also has a Guest House named Cauvery and another, a newly added one-Shantiniketan. We had booked an apartment in Cauvery Guest House for us from Mumbai itself and so went there after meeting the PA.

Next day we were at the hospital for our appointment. The hospital works very methodically and efficiently. As a first step a file is made for the patient. The second step is to register which we did by paying the fixed amount. Incidentally the charges at the hospital are not exorbitant. The enquiry, registration and payment or billing counters are right in front as one enters the big glass doors of the hospital as described earlier. We met the doctor and he saw all reports of tests done in Mumbai, which we had taken with us, and examined the infant. The doctor sent us for 2D Echocardiography and for consultation to a specialist doctor. For these charges are to be paid beforehand and we did this. One very good thing about the hospital is guidance. An usher or escrt is sent with you to take you to the desired place so that you do not have to waste time in search and go on enquiring. This service we found very useful. As we had to first make payments, then go for 2D Echocardiography and finally for the child specialist the escrt took us to all the places and showed us the procedures. All this done we saw the doctor, surgeon, again with the reports.