The Indian Hospital Experience, Part 2

The Indian Hospital Experience, Part 2

My first experience with Indian medicine was unpalatable at best. I followed it up by looking up recommended hospitals and physicians thru the U.S. Embassy listings and going from there. This led me to P. D. Hinduja Hospital. Where the previous day's hospital had been somewhat placid for the most part, this place was a medical mosh pit. People were thick, sick, and moving quick. The refined Indian art forms of the Uncovered Cough and Shared Sneeze were prominently on display.

The reception process was marginally less efficient than it had been over at Hiranandani Hospital, but certainly no worse than the American equivalent. The set me up with a general practitioner and got me in in no time. The doctor met all the expectations I was used to holding for professionalism and thoroughness. I was terribly relieved. He went over symptoms, helped to set my mind at ease about the likelihood that I was going to die. Rest, fluids, and as much bland food as I could hold down were his recommendations. He also gave me stuff for my fever in addition to what I had previously been prescribed.

The reason that I was receptive to a new prescription was because I had done some research. The other doctor had written me a script for medicines that were specifically to be avoided in the case of giardia or hepatitis, both of which I was concerned about. Getting rid of a fever is good; doing it at the price of liver damage is undesirable.

The overall experience confirmed my suspicion that my first physician had been, in fact, a douchebag and not a standard Indian professional. This gave me some relief.

A pronounced upside to this episode in its entirety was the cost. I am American, and in America around half a million people go bankrupt from doctor bills every single year (that's 2/3 of all American bankruptcies). All billing is incomprehensible. If you thoughtlessly go to the emergency room, you had better go ahead and cancel Christmas.

My visits to the doctors cost just about 1000 INR each. This is around $14. No insurance. My prescriptions cost about $18 total. All my stuff was done in facilities that seem to be as good as any public hospital in the States. I now have a powerful understanding of why ‘medical tourism’ is a thing. In the U.S. a person can expect to pay some unknowable number between $70,000 and $200,000 for heart bypass surgery. Here, it would cost you less than $10,000 plus a plane ticket.

Anyway, with that consideration in mind I have determined to undertake the removal of two pilar cysts from my scalp while we’re here. I’ll post about that, too, so that anyone considering medical tourism can have a window into actually going under the knife in Bombay.