Monday, April 25, 2011

Fortis Master Health Check Up


This review is related to  Master Health Check up undertaken by my family at  Fortis, Cunningham Road Bangalore, which was earlier Wochardt heart hospital.   The review has nothing to do with the cardiology department for which it is was earlier famous.  

The process of appointment and registeration is seemingly smooth after a span of 4 years from Wockhardt days.  Anybody visiting Fortis for Master Health check is advised to check out which day the rush is less or the number of patients already registered.   This will determine how much time one has to spend in the premises for completing the health check up.  Normally the facilities can handle upto 15 patients smoothly within 4 hours.  It is advisable to avoid holidays since the process will be delayed bottleneck being threadmill test  Blood check up procedure is not regulated on FIFO basis , which was our first observation.  This happens because the patient go the blood bank directly without hinderence, when others are waiting.  A system of issual of token would be in order.  The blood bank guys can call out the token numbers or names.   


During our Mumbai days when we used to attend to medical check up we were advised to have full meals or breakfast and return for checking the PP after 2 hours.  What we found in Fortis they have limited option of  Sandwich, Idly and Set Dosa.  I opted for set dosa which suited my advice.  It is better to have additional breakfast at Chandrika hotel nearby.   The seating arrangement is only for 8 members, which seems to be average crowd for medical check up.  Weekends there may be 20 or more, for which seating arrangements are not available at present.  There is full fledged room which needs to be renovated for operating as restaurant.  In case it rains the canopy is not sufficient, so better avoid during rainy season. 


TMT is a bottleneck in this hospital for medical check up.  There are two machines only one machine is operational currently due to shortage of staff.  The staff  too keep changing and their skills on operational matter is doubtful.  My wife was refused TMT because her BP reading was 196 / 120 and she was asked to consult the physician.  Within 5 minutes her reading 160/100 when she went to check up ECG.  How can such variation occur within 10 minutes is matter of intense speculation.  The treadmill which is on standby is better than what is normally used for test in terms of gradation.  Maybe the norms have changed, or is it the lack of space ? 


Sonagraphy test which checks kidney, prostrate and lever seems to be upto the mark.  If one questions the operator one can get an insight into their condition, particularly if one is detected with stones, prostrate enlargement and fatty lever.  Accordingly one can go to the concerned doctor for futher treatment.   


Chest x ray facility is good, but there is a question mark on how many exposures one can have in a life time, particularly for individuals undergoing tests every year.  One needs to find an answer for this since the technicians answers are not reliable. 


ECG reading and procedure are simple and quick too.  But how far the physicians check the utility of the reports is a matter of conjecture.  Ideally ECG should be conducted before TMT, but i was asked to undergo TMT first and than ECG which is strange i thought, but it saved me time. 


Dental check up is not included in the master health check up, even dietician consultation is not included.  Gynaecology consultation is included in the test for lady patients.   If one wants to undergo some other tests there is additional charge for each of the test.  Earlier instance there was goof up on pregnancy test  of my wife, however it was not FORTIS management than. 

 Opthmology test was little more detailed for me this time around since I am diabetic for almost 8 years now.  I was doused with a spirit and asked to sit for 20 minutes, to check the retina condition.  It is believed that Retina damage can be serious if the diabetic sugar levels are not under control.  The doctor advised me get check up at intervals of 6 month obviously thinking that i am on company reimbursement plan.  He gave me his private visiting card.  I believe most of the opthomology tests are conducted free of charge by Titan care or Vision express, but if one does not faith in their test, it is better to visit an ophthomologist, at least once a year particularly for diabetics.

One of the major flaws in corporate health check up is outsourcing of doctors, majority of the specialist are in the category of consultants without loyalty to the organisation.  Most of these so called consultant doctors want  the patients to visit their clinic for private and futher consultations, which will be a huge drain on the hospital income.  For example one Dentist who acted as consultant in Apollo quoted Rs 250 per cosmetic filling for 8 tooth.  We got the entire filling done for Rs 120/- just imagine the ripper of quote.  So it is CAVEAT EMPTOR, when it comes to private consultation guys.

Disclaimer :  Being a shareholder of  Fortis at the time of  writing this review  I have tried to present a neutral and factual picture, ignoring the fact that i have an axe to grind Lolz.

7 comments:

Deguide said...

FIFO system is not followed for medical check up. Pl do update the system on first cum first basis. Medical records or health check up should be available in the system for future verification. For example if have a kidney stone problem with a growth of 2mm and next year it is 3 mm, i should be able to check the progress or deterioration from last year. A common card or number can be issued to regular patients or visitors for check up. Kindly professionalise to make it user friendly, we waste lot of time in registration and running with files. The medical check up should ideally begin from 7.00 am for diabetic patients.

Deguide said...

It happened my cellphone slipped from my pocket while Sonography test was carried out, but sister from the facility returned it with thanks.

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