Dehydration : How an Indian Doctor Treat, if you can Pay

This is a real story of a horrific experience with an Indian Doctor that just got creative. Declared an Emergency to be admitted as in-Patient at once, a real emergency condition that was not even worth delaying his lunch break, if not admitted in their hospital.  And got too concerned about your health and took every extra precaution he has ever known, in your best interest, when he knew that you could pay up. 

Thanks to Sujatha Hospitals, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

One of my family members got dehydrated (we didn’t know initially it was dehydration).  As the Family doctor wasn’t available at that moment to answer our questions, based on symptoms, we went to see a doctor at a near by hospital. After basic vital checks and learning that patient recently travelled to USA, the doctor told us that the condition was serious and patient must be admitted immediately and to be given fluids by IV at once, and also prescribed 4 more injections (3 of which were to be administered through IV rather than a normal injection).

Doctor @ Sujatha Hospital’s Treatment	Treatment by a Family Doctor
Rs. 970/ worth Medicine + Hospitalization	Prolyte, Rs.13/- per pack At your home

 

We bit the bullet, got scared and started preparing to admit in a room and one  of us went to the Store right inside the Hospital itself and bought all prescribed. It was about Rs.970/- for all those prescriptions alone.

IV Saline Fluids,  3 IV Injections, One Normal Injection, Hospitalization and two sets of tablets that costs Rs.970 excluding Doctor fee + Hospitalization. 

At that time, the building was still under construction and workers are making huge thumping noises. As that noise was quite irritating, we have requested the Doctor that a room without all that noise could be better. He recommended a room one floor above, but we rejected that too as that was right next to construction work and it was much worse in that room. So requested that patient be taken home (within a KM and takes about 5 minutes) for treatment and we would pick him up and drop back in a car.

But Doctor refused to do so, citing he was about to leave on a lunch break and this would delay his lunch break.

When he refused, we got little suspicious. We wondered what happened to that “this is emergency we must admit at once” situation that doesn’t deserve any better importance than a delayed lunch break. We have decided to just leave the hospital with suspicion that something was not right. Then he recommended at least the patient be given all those injections before we leave.

Even with those suspicions, some how, we agreed and it took about 10 minutes before the nurse appeared for injections. She took the patient to a room full of other patients on beds and pulled off a privacy curtain on an empty bed. After a couple of minutes, the patient came running, as she got more suspicious looking at the needles they were about to use. They were huge, we have never seen in our life time such huge needles, except used on cattle. When questioned, Nurse was just babbling and failed to offer any explanation why such needles be used and telling us to buy a few more safety accessories to properly and safely use those needles.

Got scared and furious, we slowly came into terms with what happened. What a crap?  We just got scammed in broad day light. We went out running and returned all those prescriptions there itself.

Now we know that there is nothing serious to worry about, once we reach home I looked up those prescriptions on the internet to see what are they used for. Based on those prescriptions, we understood that it was just dehydration. And just needed some electrolytic solution to treat.  And we did have some Prolyte packets readily available at home. And all symptoms have gone away within a couple of hours after using Prolyte.

A few minutes later, the family doctor called and prescribed the same. Electrolyte and more fluids. Nothing more.

One heck of an experience. Don’t know what to say. When it comes medical treatment, everything is based on Trust. If there is no trust, I don’t know how it could all work. I am still baffled on how to address this.