A phone call announcing the arrival of the "Doctor & his team",and we spruce ourselves up earnestly for their visit.The elderly patient is briefed, and she eagerly awaits them. A retinue of Doctor,an assistant and a nurse arrive shortly, and are received with great expectations.
These are the people from a Home Care Unit.The sequence of events runs thus: they would sit by the patient and after the preliminary enquiries and basic check-up, talk to them in the most kindly manner and assure them of the best care under any circumstance. Words would be exchanged and mutually admiring each other, the patient would thank them profusely for their concern.Meanwhile,discreetly observing the household and its occupants, they would talk about the most inane topics over tea.Mission completed ,they would leave with promising prompt service when required.
These enterprising people with such innovative and thoughtful ideas are to be applauded and encouraged, since many elders are being benefited by their schemes.Most of their clients are aged parents of NRI children who are living far away and they avail the services for fixed charges, which may even be in dollars!Once in two months they visit these elders, check all parameters, treat wherever necessary and send the reports to their children. Both the parties are benefited - children don't worry and are psychologically satisfied and the doctors make enough money.
Inspite of all this, personally we were not happy with the way things worked for us in reality.On one instance when the doctor was called, she arrived after three days, that too after requesting in person four times and telephoning innumerable times!(the patient was bedridden and could not be moved.)This is the immediate attention they have given !.A long list of tests were done on the patient and she was diagnosed with typhoid.I almost fainted with the diagnosis since even by my own experience , I knew she was not having typhoid.She was a heart patient and there was some other problem.Later I was told by a friend that this doctor diagnosed most of her patients with typhoid, a silent tie-up between the laboratory, the chemist and the doctor!But the adamant doctor insisted she had to be administered the required medicine and admitted in her nursing home. What did we find there ? My heart missed a beat - messy rooms, no lift, no wheel chair for the patient - very bad infrastructure!A guy looking like a driver appeared with an old ECG machine and keeping it tilted on the bed, started taking the readings. I became agitated and almost fought with him. There was no reaction from him!Helpless,with no way to alter the situation , I could only resort to my prayers. Somehow having got caught in their web of sorts, we stayed for two days and wriggled out of the clinic,with no visible improvement in the patient's health.I seemed to have straight come out of a Robin Cook's book!
Subsequently we went back to our familiar corporate hospital and she was treated there finally.What an irony that the charges in the Home Health Care clinic was almost the same as the corporate hospital, though both were poles apart in all aspects! We thought we would get immediate treatment near our house comfortably but we were wrong. And these are the doctors who receive an award almost every month from Lions Club, Rotary Club, what not for their services to elders! I loath to see their faces peeping out of the newspapers very often. Having borne so much misery, we have bid good bye to Home Health Care.It was an eye-opener and personally I would never recommend to anyone.It seems to be more a money making business than a care centre for elders .
These are the people from a Home Care Unit.The sequence of events runs thus: they would sit by the patient and after the preliminary enquiries and basic check-up, talk to them in the most kindly manner and assure them of the best care under any circumstance. Words would be exchanged and mutually admiring each other, the patient would thank them profusely for their concern.Meanwhile,discreetly observing the household and its occupants, they would talk about the most inane topics over tea.Mission completed ,they would leave with promising prompt service when required.
These enterprising people with such innovative and thoughtful ideas are to be applauded and encouraged, since many elders are being benefited by their schemes.Most of their clients are aged parents of NRI children who are living far away and they avail the services for fixed charges, which may even be in dollars!Once in two months they visit these elders, check all parameters, treat wherever necessary and send the reports to their children. Both the parties are benefited - children don't worry and are psychologically satisfied and the doctors make enough money.
Inspite of all this, personally we were not happy with the way things worked for us in reality.On one instance when the doctor was called, she arrived after three days, that too after requesting in person four times and telephoning innumerable times!(the patient was bedridden and could not be moved.)This is the immediate attention they have given !.A long list of tests were done on the patient and she was diagnosed with typhoid.I almost fainted with the diagnosis since even by my own experience , I knew she was not having typhoid.She was a heart patient and there was some other problem.Later I was told by a friend that this doctor diagnosed most of her patients with typhoid, a silent tie-up between the laboratory, the chemist and the doctor!But the adamant doctor insisted she had to be administered the required medicine and admitted in her nursing home. What did we find there ? My heart missed a beat - messy rooms, no lift, no wheel chair for the patient - very bad infrastructure!A guy looking like a driver appeared with an old ECG machine and keeping it tilted on the bed, started taking the readings. I became agitated and almost fought with him. There was no reaction from him!Helpless,with no way to alter the situation , I could only resort to my prayers. Somehow having got caught in their web of sorts, we stayed for two days and wriggled out of the clinic,with no visible improvement in the patient's health.I seemed to have straight come out of a Robin Cook's book!
Subsequently we went back to our familiar corporate hospital and she was treated there finally.What an irony that the charges in the Home Health Care clinic was almost the same as the corporate hospital, though both were poles apart in all aspects! We thought we would get immediate treatment near our house comfortably but we were wrong. And these are the doctors who receive an award almost every month from Lions Club, Rotary Club, what not for their services to elders! I loath to see their faces peeping out of the newspapers very often. Having borne so much misery, we have bid good bye to Home Health Care.It was an eye-opener and personally I would never recommend to anyone.It seems to be more a money making business than a care centre for elders .
No comments:
Post a Comment