November 17, 2013
I had the misfortune of admitting my husband to Fortis Hiranandani. He was running a high grade fever since evening. When at dawn the temperature crossed 105â°F we decided to admit him to the nearest hospital which unfortunately is Fortis Hiranandani. And our ordeal began.
1. Emergency: There was no wheelchair available. A patient running a temperature of 105 had to walk all the way, no staff even bothered to come forward to lend a helping hand.
2. One lady doctor (woken up from sleep) came yawning. She sat on a stool, running her hand over her hair, adjusting her clutcher, displaying her pink nail painted fingers. She asked a few basic questions but did not touch the patient for once. All this while the patient was standing, no one allotted him a bed to lie down.
3. The process of canulisation was another sight. They did it with bare hands, without gloves. The caps of the canula were kept on the bed, without a care for infection. They could not find the proper vein & managed to do it after 2 or 3 painful efforts. Blood spilled all over, on my husbandâs dress, on the bed sheet & dripped on the floor. When my husbandâs colleague, who was accompanying us, shouted the doctor calmly said âaisa hi hota haiâ. Before we could tell her anything more she entered her room & slammed the door on our face.
4. Admission: All suites, single rooms, twin sharing rooms were full. They could only provide us a bed in the non AC ward. That was fine BUT the twist is their absurd & illogical rule. In case of up gradation they will charge the upgraded tariff right from the time of admission (that means if they provide you a single room/suite on Day4, you will have to pay the tariff from day1). But in the case of down gradation (say from single room to ward) they will charge you less from the time of down gradation, not from day 1. Either way, they are at profit.
5. The ward was pathetic. We were allotted a twin sharing room at 11am but due to the super- efficient of the staff they could shift the patient only at 5.30pm (after repeated follow ups from our end).
6. Callousness of the staff: My husband was admitted in the early hours of Friday. No fresh dress was given to him till late on Sunday morning. Only when I complained they brought a fresh dress. On Monday they did bring a fresh dress but no fresh towel. And unlike other Fortis hospitals, this one does not provide a personal kit to the patients.
7. The nurses are under-skilled. They are polite & well behaved (no complains about that). They cannot find veins, they do not monitor the drips, it is the patient who has to keep a watch & give them a call once the drip is about to finish.
8. The doctor prescribed multi-vitamin along with saline at the rate of 40ml/hr (that makes 960ml in 24hrs). They continuously went on giving multi vitamins. Every time we asked them how many bottles more, they said it would go on continuously, without bothering to check the doctorâs advice. That is how they finished 1litre in 8hrs. It is when my husband started having palpitation & we raised an alarm that the goof up was brought to light.
9. Billing: Now the most important part. 20 gloves (never seen them getting used), a box of facial tissues & 4-5 glucostrips (my husband did not have a single sugar test) were added in the bill. We had to argue hard to get them to deduct them. The bill also does not show the adjustment of the amount on account of the returned medicines.
10. At the time of handing the discharge summary & medicines, they handed over fresh strips of medicines which we were already having. When we pointed out they said because the final bill has already been settled they cannot refund the money for these medicines. Moreover, after coming home we discovered that the Thrombophob ointment & another strip of medicine (only one pill was used) are missing.
11. We complained all this to the Patient Welfare Officer, who sounded very concerned & apologetic. She promised to look into the matter & get back to us in a couple of days. That day is yet to come.
MORAL: Donât ever admit your loved ones to Fortis Hiranandani.