I have had some pretty interesting experiences here in Bangalore when looking for healthcare providers.
My first experience was months ago. I had a throat infection, and it wasn’t going away. I finally broke down and decided to see a doctor. I do not like going to the doctor. My husband is a doctor and most of my family is in the health profession. Anyway, a friend recommended a nearby health clinic in Koramangala, saying it was clean and modern and inexpensive. At first I was impressed. They called a consultant Ear, Nose and Throat specialist and told us to come back at 5 PM the same day!
As we sat in the waiting room, I wondered who my doctor was going to be. An older woman, very well put together in an immaculate saree and shimmering gray hair tied neatly into a topknot walked in. I beamed with happiness. But as luck would have it, she wasn’t my doctor. Then I spied a woman standing in the median of the road outside. She was slightly disheveled and well, how do I say this nicely… um, she was digging in her nose. And you guessed it, that was my doctor. Who proceeded to examine me without washing her hands or wearing gloves. And I was so shocked I just sat there, mouth gaping. ewwwwwwwww…..
Months have passed since then and now I am pregnant with my first child. My husband and I picked Manipal Hospital because its close and has a good reputation. And we like our obstetrician a lot. But my experience with the facility itself has been less than stellar.
One night recently, I was feeling terrible in the middle of the night. I was in a lot of pain, and we went to the Emergency Room at Manipal. So we get to the ER and they make me sit in a wheelchair while my husband goes to talk to the doctor on duty. Meanwhile, the orderly wheels me into the waiting area, and decides to park me (despite a good amount of open space elsewhere) FACE TO FACE with some poor guy lying on a gurney suffering from major head lacerations with blood pouring out of the cuts, his mouth and nose. eeeeeeeek!
I am finally shifted up to the maternity ward to see a doctor. I go to use the bathroom while I wait, and let me tell you… it’s not a pretty sight. We were made to leave our shoes at the door to the ward, so I realized I would have to pull a Britney Spears and use the loo in my bare feet. Might I add that the floor was soaking wet and slippery? Because that is precisely what you want…. wet floors in a bathroom that wobbly pregnant women are using. Anyway I make my way over to the toilet and try to ignore the blood all over the commode, then I go to wash my hands. Lo and behold, no soap. No hand towels either.
So now I am scared. I could sign up for the VIP suites when I go in to have the baby, but what does that mean? They will make sure the filthy soap dispenser has soap? I get to wear chappals in the loo? No random blood spatter?
I am annoyed because all people deserve better treatment than this. Yes, it’s the general ward, but even people who cannot afford a VIP room need to use soap after a visit to the bathroom. They deserve a cleaner environment. My husband worked in a PHC in a rural village and even he was shocked by the conditions at Manipal. The doctors might be wonderful (and most of them are… the treatment I am receiving is by all means world-class) but the facilities are shabby and well, frightening.
And I don’t even know what to say about doctor nose-picker. That was a one-off, I am sure… I HOPE.
Smallsquirrel, I am a doctor in Bangalore, and although I think some of your accounts may be a bit exaggerated, I do agree that, on a whole, our facilities lack the world-class quality that you find in the West. As a healthcare professional, I can assure you that many of our requests go unheeded - at the end of the day, healthcare is a big business and every big business has to worry about margins. We also do not have the extensive litigation framework here, which acts as a major deterrent in other countries for malpractice. I am intrigued by your article and look forward to more articles about healthcare.