Another Pune Hospital From Up Close

In our current India trip I've come into close contact with another major hospital in Pune, India. This time it is Ruby Hall Clinic (aka Grant Medical Foundation) which is more plush than Inlaks & Budhrani Hospital that I first talked about in my Oct. 28, '08 post. It's a more likely destination for Western medical tourists, though still imperfect including from the perspective of its geographic location and distance from an international airport.

On Dec. 24th after arriving in Pune Anita and I took my in-laws (Daddy and Mummy) by ambulance to Inlaks for a thorough follow-up medical examination. The pronouncements by Dr. R and Dr. P were very encouraging. Daddy had recovered well from his two surgeries 2 - 3 months earlier, and both Daddy and Mummy needed just some minor adjustments in their medications. Our system of having four good round-the-clock attendants and daily home visits by a physical therapist seemed to have worked well. Mummy's main problem was a persistent irritation in the throat and esophagus that sometimes caused her to throw up while eating. Dr. R ascribed this irritation to a drug she was taking to control heart function and blood pressure, and switched it.

On December 25 while we were dining together, Mummy gagged on a mouthful of food. Familiar with the drill, Shabana (her attendant) brought a pan as she coughed and retched, and then quietened with her head down while (we thought) regaining her breath. But a few moments later we asked whether she was okay and there was no response. She was immobile and slumped over with her eyes open. I immediately did a Heimlich Maneuver in case something was choking her. No effect. Then suspecting a major stroke attack I dialled 101 (the Indian equivalent of 911) for an ambulance though the system worked differently from the US.

The operator advised me to directly call the ambulance service of the hospital and gave me the number of Ruby Hall that I picked among the choices. The Ruby Hall dispatcher was quick, and asked if I wanted a doctor to come with the ambulance for an extra charge and I said yes. (Otherwise they send ward boys to help evacuate the patient, but they are not trained and equipped like the paramedics in the US.)

Mummy came to four minutes after her attack, just as I put down the phone. She didn't recall losing consciousness, and wondered what the fuss was about. Fifteen minutes later at about 10pm the Ruby Hall ambulance arrived with a resident doctor from the trauma unit and other staff. The doctor asked questions, examined Mummy, and found her functions and vital signs to be near normal. Mummy was then carried down from their second story apartment to the waiting ambulance and we arrived at the Ruby Hall emergency and trauma center.

There, she was further examined by other personnel including the emergency medical officer, then sent for head MRI, X-ray and other tests. They found nothing alarming. By now it was well past midnight, and she was moved to a nice big private room in the in-patient wing. Our attendant Shabana whom I had brought with me had done a good job helping tend to Mummy and stayed the night with her in the hospital.

In the morning the senior neurologist Dr. B. came into Mummy's room, examined her as well as the test reports and told us she hadn't suffered a stroke and there was nothing to worry about. She had merely fainted ("transient loss of consciousness") because her fit of coughing and heaving had temporarily restricted blood flow to her brain, with no other ill effects. If it ever happens again, he advised, she should be made to lie down (this time she had been kept propped in her wheelchair) so that the increased blood flow to her head revives her more rapidly. By 4pm that evening Mummy was back at home. Anita had stayed back at the apartment to take care of it as well as Daddy, and there was relief and celebration when we all got back together.

The outcome was the best we could have hoped for under the circumstances, and we went ahead with our plans to fly to Delhi the following morning. Our overall experience with Ruby Hall was very good. Here are some highlights:

Ruby Hall is certainly more upscale than Inlaks. Security staff at the entrances checks bags (a fallout of the Nov. 26 '08 terror attacks in Mumbai.) The staff to patients ratio is higher and the rooms and corridors are cleaner. In the inpatient wing the attentive female staff at the nurses' station was smartly dressed in two distinct types of sarees. I learned that nurses wore one type, and the other was worn by "coordinators" who were there to help schedule appointments for patients, assign them rooms, look to their comforts, regulate visitors, etc.

There were several residents and interns in the emergency and trauma center when we had arrived around 10pm who looked very young and not too experienced. They did have a "full-fledged" doctor in the emergency medical officer and a head resident, who both also looked thirtyish or less. But when I think back to emergency room visits to US hospitals during off-hours the availability of doctors is far less.

The canteen and food catering service was impressive. Poor Shabana hadn't had time to eat dinner in our rush to the hospital. When we finally settled into the private ward past 1 am, I could order in sandwiches, tea and coffee from the limited menu they offer round the clock. And during regular mealtimes they had an extensive menu and good preparations of vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare that would have done an upscale restaurant proud. The prices were low too - under $2 per entree. I half-joked that we should come here when we want to eat out.

Some folks had warned me that hospitals like Ruby Hall may try to keep patients longer and order more tests than are necessary just to increase their earnings. But I found absolutely no evidence of this. In fact, Mummy was upgraded to a "super-luxury room" at no extra charge because the deluxe room we sought was unavailable.

The senior doctors here (who are mostly "consultants") enjoy a good reputation, including the neurologist Dr. B who was competent, genial, and committed to his patients. He was very accessible and gave me all the extra time I requested to discuss Mummy's condition and prognosis.

In overall prices Ruby Hall is costlier than Inlaks, but still remarkably inexpensive by Western standards. We paid a total of Rs. 15,000 ($310) including $160 for the MRI and X-rays, $60 for a deluxe private room, and $25 for the two ambulance trips (with the doctor on board for the inbound trip). Our total also included $42 for an optional bone mineral density (BMD) test that we went for since Dr. R from Inlaks had recommended it though Inlaks didn't have the equipment and Ruby Hall happened to be offering it.

One shouldn't extrapolate from a single instance and I've heard a couple of stories to the contrary about Ruby Hall. But our own experience there was very good.