As you drive along Bannerghatta Road, one of Bangalore’s increasingly bourgeois neighborhoods, you see hoardings and billboards all the way, advertising healthcare services from a leading hospital. It is the obvious choice of hospital for many as the look and feel of it is very appealing..... at the very least, in the first instance. You walk in and you are floored by the sheer good looks and clean surroundings. You are quick to believe that this is the stuff of everything state-of-the-art in healthcare. Welcome to Wockhardt hospital, where decent healthcare is a given, but then again, so are many other things, not all rosy, that come with it.
Today health tourism is a booming industry in India and people are flocking to these cutting edge hospitals for quality healthcare that is affordable. Having said that, I realize that being able to afford is subjective (so is quality) and many Indians themselves will find it utterly and completely unaffordable and very often for that reason alone, think it is quality. However, Wockhardt’s emergency room is open to all, 24/7 and their pharmacy, well-stocked, dispenses drugs only on prescription, as a policy.
Waiting rooms are a very pleasant change from the usual – they are clean, large, well lit and airy and in some instances, even carry a TV. The wait itself is long and cumbersome and they have a very poor system of tracking and managing appointments. If you are lucky, you will wait only two hours to see your doctor, appointment notwithstanding. And the best part is nobody can be held accountable. It’s just how the system works.
However, once you do get in, you can be reasonably sure of good care. The gynecology department is a case in point. Apart from highly qualified doctors, they have very well organized labor and birthing rooms, excellent nursing staff and very good after-care. It was a surprise, to say the least. One doesn’t expect it, I guess; in India we are, ironically enough, used to some shabby treatment every now and then. Nonetheless, having a baby in Wockhardt hospital was a good experience and I would recommend going there to anybody unsure about which hospital to go to for prenatal care. They seem to have a reliable and impressive looking neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the nursery with incubators and other equipment also wears a reassuring look.
An increasing number of couples are apparently opting to give birth at Wockhardt and I say, with good reason too. However, I would also recommend that they do due diligence regarding the birthing alternatives available and if one does want a natural birth that is well and good, but if one wants pain relief, then it's best to talk about it to the gynecologist well in advance. An anesthetist (who knows what he/she is doing) may not be available at short notice. These big hospitals get crowded and as a result impersonal; that risk does exist and it seems to be the case here as well. I recently went back with my baby and saw to my disappointment that it was gradually deteriorating into just another healthcare hub. Obviously not enough is being done by way of maintenance and it is succumbing, slowly but surely, to the lure of lucre.
Their pediatrics department, for example, is quite ordinary. They belong to a very old school of thought where parents’ requests, suggestions and choices (especially at the time of birthing) are considered interference. And consequently their method of dispensing treatment is also fairly regressive.
Their lab facility as well is just about okay. You can expect some degree of confusion over your test results every once in a while and the bathroom attached to it is a real stinker! That seems to be the rule rather than the exception anyway. So much for cleanliness and hygiene. And as for the cafeteria, well, certain things are best left unsaid.
For a private hospital with many a claim to fame, they are overall pretty poorly organized with some red tape to boot. However, in the larger scheme of things, these discrepancies seem bearable. Even so, I can’t seem to sit back and relax, thinking that a high-class healthcare facility is there should I ever need it. In fact it makes me sick down to my gut even thinking about being laid up in one of those beds; and for all its outward sophistication, and self-proclaimed status as a leader in healthcare, I just might give Wockhardt a six out of ten!
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—About our writer:
Nanditha,
Mother of two lovely children, yoga teacher, occasional painter, freelance writer (who loves writing poetry as well) and lover of life in general.
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