Medanta: Dedicated to Money

Till You've Got Money To Pay Us, WE CARE !

I had heard a lot about this hospital in Gurgaon, called 'Medanta-The Medicity'. Especially from my fiancé who seems to be a big fan of this hospital's founder and chairman Dr. Naresh Trehan. And so my image of Dr Trehan and his so called Medicity was of a pioneer and an institute dedicated towards better healthcare to Indians and whoever coming from any other country. But sadly, we had our moment of truth when my fiancé had to be admitted in this hospital for a minor surgery.

My fiance was suffering from something called 'Sebaceous Syst' and since her beloved Dr Trehan's hospital was in Gurgaon (where she works and resides) she instantly decided to go for it. However, we heard a few things (both good and bad) from a friend (who is being treated at Medanta for a long time) about how this hospital charges almost twice for all the services than any other medical institure in Delhi-NCR. But still we decided to go for it and at the reception, we were told that the whole process will cost us 35,000 INR (for just one day). We paid for all the expenses (surgery+doc-fee+room expenses) in advanced around 6:00 AM while checking in and we opted for a twin sharing room which cost us 3500 INR per day. The Doctor who was going to operate my fiance asked us to report at the hospital early in the morning because she wanted to operate her around 7AM and so we were filling up the forms at the hospital at 6AM. However, after waiting for 3 hours in the 'Day Care' lobby, my fiance was called in for her surgery at 9AM and the reason for the same told by a security guard (and my friend) was 'that all the doctors live in Delhi and so they dont come here before 8:30AM). However, the surgery ended around 12 AM and the day care staff asked us to go to the admission desk and to check for the room where my fiancé was supposed to be shifted. The staff at the day care gave us a tip "to keep poking the admission desk if we want to get a room, because this is how things work in this hospital". And so started our wild goose chase for a room in the so called 'Medicity'.

We reached the admission desk and asked for our room and the person behind the desk casually told us that he doesnt have a vacant room and that 'the scene doesnt look good either'. And it was, because all the rooms were occupied (reminds you of some lodge, doesnt it?) and that there is no vacant room in the staff's vicinity (now you should know that this so called Medicity is a 14 story building + one more floor which is not accessible for the common people). We asked him when the room will be vacant so that the patient would be shifted to a room from a daycare and his answer was, "I dont know!".

We came back to the daycare and saw that another family who had booked a single room (cost: 6000INR per day) were moving their patient in the room because the surgery just finished. So we thought maybe, a single room is available. We went back to the admission desk and asked the guy to check for a single room. He told us that it will cost us extra and the 'Whole Package' will be changed and so he directed us towards the finance department. We went to the finance department and were told that if we will opt for a single room, all our expenses will go up. This included the room fee+meal plan+doctor visit fee along with the fee for the surgery which had already been done. I was amazed to know that the price for the surgery which had been performed over a patient would upgrade itself just because the patient will then be shifted to a single room. But hey! Its 'The Medicity' how can you complain?

So we discussed it and thought of paying the rest of the 10,000 INR but then we asked, "So we will get the room, right". But again, we got the answer, "We will try our best!"

Now the thing is, my fiancé was still in the ward as I wrote this note and since that was a daycare facility, my freshly operated fiancé would not be able to stay there for the night. And since we are also availing medical insurance (of my finace), we need to stay here for at least 24 hours, but the hospital is blatantly saying that they dont have any vacant room and the things dont look good either.

But I knew that they were not going to throw my fiance on the road and wont stop treating her. In fact around 7:00 PM, she was shifted in a room (after me and my father-in-law kept poking the admission desk).

So finally we got the room somehow, but I have some questions;

1. If they knew that they didnt have any vacant room and that 'things arent looking good' either, why did they charge us for the room in advance and didnt inform us about the situation then?

2. Isnt this hospital supposed to be one of the biggest (both in reputation and the number of beds) hospital in India, which is running out of beds on a patients who came here AFTER paying for their room?

3. Howcome the price of a procedure, which has been already performed can go higher just because the related person now wants to upgrade his/her room?

If these are the things which I mentioned and noticed, I am sure there are many other issues which I didnt even touch or come to know about. As my friend said, "Medicity just knows how to charge you extra for nothing.", now I believe, she and her views about Dr. Trehan and his medical institute are right. Medanta has its tagline; 'Dedicated to Life' but all I could see was that it should be 'Dedicated to Money'.

Also, now my fiance's (who is now my wife BTW) views have totally changed (and not in a good way) about his ex-beloved Dr. Trehan and his so called Medicity. After all, she wasnt given a room after her surgery; the room for which her hard earned money and insurance (later) paid for in advanced even before she was admitted.

HAIL DR. TREHAN AND HIS MEDICITY !!