[download2live]

I had a stomach ache going on for few days. I went to Manipal. Big mistake.
The so called specialist saw me and recommended a Endoscopy. Wanted to have a look so as to be sure that there was nothing serious.

1500 bucks straight.
That was in 2007.

What added salt to the injury was that he made me lie on OT table, pushed the tube down my throat and explained to fellow trainees what was inside and where. Most probably he was charging money from them also.

And after that elaborate examination he was satisfied that there was nothing wrong. He gave me 20 Rs tablets.

Wonder that if he was a expert then why he needed that expensive process to make sure that nothing was wrong.

Whatever, ever since then I avoid Manipal like Plague.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

My family has many doctors, but I am never aware of it. But here is the case with my mother.

My mother was once on insulin injections thrice a day. The doctor has recommended these for good health. That doctor is very famous in Vadodara for keeping the patients in hospital for too long, i.e. admitting the patients and keeping them for too long.
Then we started visiting another doctor who was once a head in IPCL ( when it was IPCL and not reliance ). He clearly mentioned that considering the fact that a lot of medicines are available for diabetes, its not good to jump to insulin injections that too thrice a day.

We started taking his treatment and now mom is currently on tablets and not insulins. This is the effect from doctor to doctor.
One had inscribed three injections of insulin and my mom started taking the injections herself. Even after this mom was not comfortable and low sugar was regular. Right now with the tablets, all parameters are in control.

Injected Insulin is actually the best treatment for Diabetes, both Type-1 & Type-2. It's better than most other oral medications. However, doctors in general prefer to go the oral medication route because of various reasons.

- Patients in general prefer to swallow a medication than inject it. So compliance goes down with home injections as compared to oral medications

- Insulin treatment ends up being expensive & requires a lot of discipline from the patient. Ideally, you should measure your blood sugar before a meal, calculate the amount of carbs you are going to eat, calculate the insulin needed for that much carbs & then inject yourself the right dosage. Also you should again measure your blood sugar repeatedly during the day to avoid low sugars. This may end up needing making you measuring your blood sugar 5-6 times a day. A blood sugar measuring strip costs upto Rs.25 per strip. So overall it ends up being very expensive. Plus as I said it requires a lot of patient discipline in the absense of which, you may end up with low blood sugar.

- Medications like sulfonylureas for diabetes essentially force your pancreas to increase it's insulin output tremendously - that's how they work. Now in the long term, this eventually causes pancreas burnout leading to increased dosage or adding more medication over the long term. Most people who are on oral medication get to the point where they need to add injected insulin at some point.

- No of times insulin is taken in a day is not meaningful unless you also know what is the quantity injected each time. Plus depending on your stage of diabetes, your dosage may differ. For some people 20 units may be more than enough per day, for others 50 units may be less.

- Dr. Bernstein's book recommends splitting the dosage into many small units a day as compared to 2 big units.

Originally Posted by ntomer

Dear Sir,

I know the owners - Junejas pretty well. And although I can't really substantiate it but it is a fact that no well-known hospital prescribes Mankind medicines.

The core market for Mankind is small towns, and micro-interiors. And they'll give doctors anything - from tooth-brushes, razors, shirts to ACs, LCD TVs to foreign trips - to prescribe their medicines.

Other companies might not be much different, but the established names have much better QC, and will not go to such extent to get business.

Nitin

Considering other companies have bigger margins than Mankind, they can afford to bribe the docs even more!

Mankind has been single handedly responsible for making a lot of other major manufacturers reduce their prices. Many tablets which used to cost Rs. 50 per tablet 10 years back, now cost Rs. 20 from the same major manufacturer because Mankind sells at Rs. 5.

I read an article where a researcher tested various different generics in India & found that all of them are within the mark.

Originally Posted by ntomer

This incident made me realize that there is a nexus between hospital, TPA and insurance company personnel, which is bleeding the insurer dry.

Nitin

Personally, I don't like the concept of insurance(all kinds) except in a few cases.
Medical insurance, in the end increases the cost of treatment because of various reasons
- there is another entity in the equation who is making profits
- Doctors have to hire an extra person to take care of billing & following up with insurance companies.
- Doctors/Hospitals try ripping off insurance companies. In the end, the cost is going to be passed on to the customer.
- In the US, people have sued insurance companies for rejecting cosmetic surgery as part of coverage - the argument being - my self esteem is low because of my cosmetic problems, this causes depression, depression is a medical condition, so the insurance has to pay for my nose-shaping. In the end, again, cost is going to be passed on to the customer.

Medical Insurance Industry in India is in very nascent stages, hence we don't see too many problems. However, give it 10 years time, I predict that most people will not be able to visit a doctor for even minor treatments without having insurance coverage.

For people without employer provided medical insurance, I would recommend having a kind of catastrophe insurance if such a thing is available - something like I will take care of all bills under Rs. 2 Lakhs per ailment . The insurance company comes into the picture only for bills above. 2 Lakhs is a random figure - actual figure is what you can afford.
This is something like the deductible you chose in the US for your car insurance. I always used to chose a huge deductible because it lowers my premiums. If I am having accidents frequently enough to make my huge deductible to cause a big hole in my pocket, I probably shouldn't be
driving.

Insurance should be for unforseen circumstances which can screw you up financially & wreck your life. Routine stuff shouldn't be insured.
People even go for life insurance without thinking. Life insurance is a good thing. But not everybody needs it at their current age, situation etc. In life insurance, you & and the insurance company are betting against each other. You win if you die early. The company wins if you live long. In other words, you never win. Insurance your life only if your death today will screw up your family's life economically rather badly. Otherwise, you may not need life insurance - you can probably put the premiums into a recurring deposit & provide for your family that way. Even if you want to insure your life, it should always be term insurance - never ULIPs or Whole-Life insurance.

[clevermax]

Follow this simple thing : Just don't let the doc know that you're a software engineer.

I have seen the differences in bills from the same hospital for the same kind of illness, when I was under company cover and later on my own.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by download2live

Whatever, ever since then I avoid Manipal like Plague.

Well, I can't avoid it, I live there.

Manipal is a town, not just a hospital. Anyway, the Manipal Hospital in Bangalore is merely following the guidelines laid by the parent hospital, KMC or Kasturba Medical College. The original KMC hospital in Manipal town is no different. We in Manipal never venture into KMC without a friend-of-the-family doctor looking after our interests. If you go in blind, they will loot you blind. I have lost count of the number of times some family member came close to getting ripped off and then escaped thanks to family connections.

Few years back, there was a case where my father-in-law had chest pain. Since he previously has had triple bypass, he went in for an angiogram. During the angiogram, the doctor (HOD himself) sounded very concerned and recommended angioplasty right away. They had catheters for every budget. But my F-I-L being a local, knew better. He refused and came out. But they didn't discharge him saying medical reasons, observations, etc. But F-I-L had enough local connections to overside all the medical concerns and got discharged. They refused to handover the angiogram report, again had to relent in the face of connections.

Then he went to Bangalore with the angiogram report to Jayadeva hospital. He was given a thorough checkup and the report was studied by a well-known doc (son-in-law of a humble farmer), who said "Just go home, you are fine". And that was 5 years back, nothing has happened since then.

[wanderlust]

There is definitely a nexus between the insurance people and hospitals.

Earlier, the first question I would be asked by car service centers folks when I went in for a minor dent removal was if I had insurance.

I was shocked when the receptionist at a popular hospital in South Bangalore asked me the same when I went in for my mother's treatment last month. When I asked her if that would make a difference in the treatment procedure or bill, she hesitated and then went on to explain in hushed tones: there are "stay packages" for standard operations that they provide to insurance holders (for example, a small-incision-gall-bladder-package).

[HappyWheels]

Yikes! So many bad reports about Manipal and I almost took my brother in law there for a neuro surgery! (tumor, non malignant)

Got it done at BGS Global Hospital, where there have a highly specialized neuro surgery department and they are one of top, if not, the best.

The case was critical and we were expecting around 6-7 laks. But final bill was just 1.5 laks!!! Why so? Because the doctors expected the worse but it finally ended up being a blood clot that had grown over the years and blocked the cerebral fluid flow. Re-classified as minor operation. (Clot was due to an injury when he was a kid!!!)

And yes, he is doing well now. 4 days in ICU and 4 more in ward, he is back on his feet. The doctor wanted to discharge him by the second day in the ward, saying that he is recovering well and there is not need for being in the hospital, but we felt it was too early (he had mild to moderate head aches in between).

A very good experience and would highly recommend this hospital, especially if it involves neuro.

[freakmuzik]

I realise I'm bumping a very old thread here but felt this to be the closest match.

I just got back home after being with a friend for a minor hand surgery. He had cut a small tip of his finger while cleaning his bike chain and was taken in for its surgery at Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre, Chennai. They immediately mentioned the charges would be between 1 and 1.5 L. He was in General Ward and it costs 1.5k + another 7k for additional costs (nursing, etc etc). Now, we asked for a single occupancy room and for that, a ward manager spoke to me over the phone.

So, if my friend is opting for a single occupancy room, his surgery charges of 1-1.5L would see a rise of 20%-30% it seems - and over this is the daily room rent of 4.5k plus another 7k daily for misc. I asked her what is the extra 20-30% for as there is going to be nothing different in the surgery - and her response was "it's hospital policy sir".

For the reference of any medical professionals in the forum, the diagnosis was "Allen Type 3 amputation - finger tip" & treatment procedure being - "wound debridement +/- Nail Head Grafting +/- Soft Tissue Cover