Oct 03, 2013 06:20 PM
3041 Views
I never had any opinion about this hospital prior to my visit this month. I have seen this hospital several times as I cross Thirumangalam-Koyambedu road atleast 4-5 times a week. From the apearance of it, it looks like a good hospital with 24hrs emerency care which got registered in my mind.
When I visited my relative at Maduravoyal, my son was playing, he got his chin cut and it started bleeding. It got a little deep and I took him in my car. Not knowing where to go as I was not sure which hospital is good near by, I thought I would take him to vee care as 24 hrs emergency tag of that hospital striked my mind. I did take him there and rushed to emergency. Nurses got him to bed, wipped off the blood with cotton and told him that it will be alright soon. My son kept crying bcoz he knew that stitches are required as he had bad experience 1 yr back where he had cut at his head and took stitches. They took photo of the wound and after 10 mins, surgeon appeared.
Just before he appeared, a nurse asked me where I was working. I believe nurse would have passed the info to doctor that I am a software professional. The doctor had a look and then told me that he can either do a stitch as such which will be painful or give Anasthesia and do it properly which would cost Rs 12000. He asked me if I have insurance and then suggested to get admitted so that stitching can be done in 1-2hrs and then stay till 8 pm and then get discharge report on next day so that insurance can be covered. I asked him if that is really necessary. He said since boy is crying, they cannot stitch without proper Anasthesia and asked me to confirm in 10-15mins.
He is my first son 5 yrs old and I love him more than anything in the world. Even for him, he will be without his mom but not without me. We share such a relation with each other. So, when he had a cut and blood popping up now & then and crying, one can imagine the state of mind I would be in. Rs12000 is nothing for me if that can make my son feel better and if the treat is best for him. With me and my wife in IT industry for 13+yrs, we are well off to spend such money. In addition, most of this will be from insurance and we might have to spend less than 5k.
Only thing troubled me was the duration of stay and the location as my house is a bit far away and I need to look at logistics. I called up my wife who reminded me of another incident which my uncle had with this hospital.Though I knew about that I didn't know the name by then. My uncle came to this hospital for a small injury in his leg but they gave some injection which made him faint and later he was admitted for 2 days with a bill of Rs25k.
I then realized that I should not continue the treatment there, not just for money but for the well being of my son. I told them I will get him treated somewhere else. They made me wait for another 30mins. While my son was crying, they did not show the urgency to get the formalities closed on time. Later I went to a hospital near to my house which is 10-15kms away from veecare.
I don't want to mention the name here. When I went there, they took my son to bed, many nurses got into the job. The duty doctor came in 2 mins. Within 1 min, everyone got hold of my son's hands and legs. The doctor was initiating conversation with my son, telling him that he would get a good chocolate today, bla bla bla, to get the attention of my son. He injected local Anesthesia around the cut which was painful. My son started crying for few mins but then he stopped as doctor asked everyone to move away. With no pain to my son, he did the stitches. He gave my medicine slip. I paid for medicine and the doctors fee. Total came to Rs350.
I stepped out of hospital in 15mins.. Pain of my son stopped in 15mins, I came out by spending only Rs350. Within 1 week stitches were removed and he was totally fine. The attitude of the doctors in veecare gave me an impression that they did not understand the pain of the patients, did not give a prompt treatment but instead looking for opportunity to extract money from the patients.
They sensed my worry, ability to pay and played their trick. I am not saying they should treat people free of cost or without profit, but there should be some honesty in their profession. They can get money for specialist treatment, but cannot cheat by giving false information and try to misuse the mindset of the patients. If someone from veecare if reading this, please take this as my humble feedback and change your attitude.
Get good doctors and I am sure you will make money and also do service.
