Hassles at Apollo Hospital

Hassles faced at Apollo Hospital (Bangalore) during Discharge

My mother-in-law is a cancer patient and had finished her radio therapy and chemotherapy in apollo hospital about 2 months back. On 3rd February morning she was complaining about a severe stomach pain and we took her to apollo hospital. she

was admitted to Apollo Hospital emergency and was diagnosed for a Hernia problem. It was decided in the emergency to operate the hernia the next day in laparoscopic mode of surgery.

For an admission procedure, we were asked to pay the approximate total sum of the operation at the billing counter as the patient was not covered under any insurance at that time. When asked about the sum at the billing counter, they advised that it comes under a package and for a four bedded cabin, the package of Hernia operation including 3 days stay is around 52000 (Fifty Two Thousand) + some buffer. So they took a deposit of Rs60000 (Sixty Thousand).

Surgery was successfully done on 4th Feb.

On the day of discharge, ie, on 6th, when we went to get the clearance in the morning at about 11.30AM, it was told that the balance was Rs88000 at the In-Patient Billing section at 3rd floor. This was a bolt from the blue to us.

When we told them about the package, they replied that probably the new amount (1 Lakh 46 Thousand) was done by mistake and the bill should be within 60K. They also informed that the discharge letter was still not sent by the concerned department from 6th floor and asked us to come after half an hour.

When we went there at about 12.30PM they informed that the balance amount was Rs99000 and some odd amount... We were shocked. Again we told them about the package and they wanted us to get a clarification from the doctor and the concerned department. Finally we caught hold of the doctor who performed the operation at around 2PM and he told that there were some specific expensive consumables used during the operation which shot up the price and he told sorry about it that he could not inform us about the details prior to the operation. He never discussed with us about the approximate expenditure anytime on the day of admission. We again told him about the package but could not get any satisfactory answer. He only told that he used some better materials during the operation and some other expensive consumables had to be used. Now when the operation was over, he told that the same operation done in open-surgery would have cost us 1lakh less.

Annoyed by this we went to the billing counter to speak to the billing manager. This person admitted that there was a lack of communication from their side and decided to give us a discount of 10% on the outstanding amount. We never spoke to them about any discount. They inflated the bill by 300% and now they were talking about a mere 10% discount.

It was ridiculous and disgusting. We decided to talk to the operation manager. That person listened to us and said sorry for the whole episode and admitted that there was a mistake from their side. We told him that we were ready to accomodate 10%-20% of human error, but it was an error of 300%. For a minor hernia operation the bill was 1lac 60 thousand and being known as a professional hospital, we didn't expect any such things to happen, this is as good as cheating. Had we knew about it during admission, we would have at least ventured about other alternatives/avenues. He said he understood all our points and finally said that he would reduce Rs20000 (Twenty Thousand)... It was already 4PM then. We gave up and paid the balance amount 80000. We told him that we would not stop there and would pursue it further for justice.

We have few questions:

1. Since they admitted that it was a mistake from their side, why don't they stick to the package, instead of passing on the burden to the patient?

2. Who told the doctor to use expensive material without any consent from the patient? Why did he conceal the fact and mislead us at the time of discharge?

3. Since the doctor told that he used better materials for this surgery, does he mean that he has been using inferior materials so far?

4. Why the Billing section did not speak to the doctor before saying that it comes under a package of Rs52000?

Apollo Hospital do not have any answer for these, so I am writing this blog so that people are aware about the incidence and think twice before admitting somebody to Apollo Hospital. I'll not stop here and would rather plan to go to consumer court for this. I would definitely want my money back.

Please feel free to write if you have any suggestion.

I’ll also ask my wife to write about the other inconveniences we have faced during pre and post surgery.

Update as of today (22-Feb-2010):

One nice doctor at Apollo finally listened to the entire problem and wanted to take it up further with the upper management. Tomorrow we'll submit everything in writing about all the problems we faced. Copy of this blog will be submitted.

So far I tried to write this blog the most impersonal way, because I do not want to bring any disgrace to any single doctor or to malign the services they render. My fight is AGAINST CORPORATE (read HOSPITAL) MALPRACTICES.

Thanks to all the people who have joined our hands.


(28-Feb-2010):
My brother-in-law along with the senior doctor met the COO of Apollo Hospital on 23rd and described him all the problem. After seeing all the reports, he said he wanted to pursue it further and told us to meet him the day after.
Accordingly, my brother-in-law and myself went to meet him in his office at Apollo. That person (COO) appeared to be sincere. He told us that he had personally taken up the matter and he would make sure that we did not suffer any loss. He took our phone numbers and informed that as soon as everything was ready from their side, he would give us a call. I was happy to hear that and appreciated him for his efforts.
Three days passed by. Till the time I am writing this, I have not received his call, though I have a wishful expectation.