Two incidents happened which has almost ensured that I am never going back to Artemis.

They don’t care about the customer’s time

I have been having a pretty severe pain in my wrist and needed to visit an Orthopedic. I went to Artemis and sat at their OPD registration desk. They told me that Dr. Hegde is on call, and I can have an appointment with him. I said, that is fine. Then as he tried to book the appointment, he told me that Dr. Hegde will only be available after one hour, and so I had to wait. Since I didn’t have the time I told him not to bother and I will come back another day (as I can’t wait for an hour). Then he told me to wait while he got on the phone. Then he said, a doctor will see me now. He said another doctor who is an associate of Dr. Hegde’s will be able to see me. Since, I was only there for a preliminary diagnosis, I didn’t care and told him that it is alright. Incidentally, this doctor wasn’t even listed in their doctors’ database, and the appointment was made in the name of Dr. Hegde.

Never mind, I said to myself; I made the payment and off I went to look for this doctor. Now here’s the kicker. I still had to wait in this doctor’s office (there were no other patients) FOR ONE HOUR. This is after I told them that I had more important things to do and I can not wait for an hour. It all went downhill from there. I couldn’t leave as I had paid already and every visit to the registration desk yielded a he’s-just-coming response. I would have expected that after waiting for an hour, Dr. Hegde will show up; but no, it was his ‘associate’. If ever, a doctor has not looked like a doctor, it was this time. In any case, all this guy did was hold my wrists for a minute or two, move it around, and then told me to go get an MRI.

That’s it.

Getting an MRI and how incompetent these people are

I went back to the OPD to see if I could get an MRI right then (I was already late), but I guess I was overly optimistic. There was no chance of that, so I left thinking that I will take an appointment and then come.

Well, a couple of days later when I did have the time, I called them up for an appointment. I asked and they gave me an appointment for the same day, and asked me to come sharply at the appointment time. Well, good I thought. Since that would mean I wouldn’t have to waste my time.

I got to the hospital almost on time, and went to their diagnostics desk. For almost 10 minutes, nothing happened. This is a private hospital, they charge a lot of money for their services, and they are still understaffed? The guy who was holding the prescription just didn’t do anything about it for 10 minutes. He just kept yapping on one phone call after another.

In any case, when I got a little pissed, he started looking for my appointment details, and then told me that I don’t have an appointment. I said that’s impossible, since I had confirmed the appointment on phone. He then looked and found out that I had been given an appointment for the next day. Once again, this was a sheer waste of my time.

I told him to cancel my appointment for the next day and left. Of course, I still haven’t got an MRI done on my wrist, as it seems that there are not enough MRI machines in Gurgaon and too many people need to get an MRI done, so there’s always a queue.

All of the major hospitals and clinics in Gurgaon now have an ultrasound facility. Here are the ones that we have been to:

Apollo Clinic – there is usually a very long wait at the Apollo Clinic. First of all, you need to have an appointment, but despite the appointment, you may have to wait for a couple of hours. This is a result of mismanagement and also the fact that they have only one machine, so sometimes it needs to be used in emergency cases ahead of the appointment holders.

The waiting area is also quite cramped and small.

Max Hospital – we have used this one a couple of times. Once again, like all hospitals, this also gives preference to emergency cases. My wife had to go in once with an emergency, and she was able to get it done immediately.

Another time when she called for an appointment, she was told that there was no slot available for 3 days. The overall feel of the place is however better than Apollo.

Artemis Hospital – this is of course a super speciality center with state of the art facilities. The best thing about Artemis is that they have two independent Ultrasound rooms, and so there is always plenty of availability and you usually get an appointment without too much wait.

The one thing bad about Artemis is that, they are not sensitive to providing same gender doctor by default. My wife has visited the place multiple times, and once she was assigned a male doctor for a pregnancy ultrasound. We didn’t have a big problem with that, but I imagine a lot of people may have. The biggest thing is that, when we took the appointment, a lady doctor was mentioned on the actual appointment, but a male doctor was assigned instead.

All these big hospitals have one flaw however – they have a staff of doctors who operate the facility. So, there is no guarantee of getting the same doctors every time you go there.

Our Best Experience has been at a different facility altogether. We highly recommend a clinic called the Ultrasound Clinic (not very original, I know), which is run by one Dr. Girish Pandit. He is one of the most highly recommended doctors and we were referred to him from multiple gynecologists. He specializes in pregnancy related ultrasounds. The best thing about this place is that the Doctor himself is a very nice person, and has the quality which puts you at ease.

The clinic is located in Qutab Enclave market in DLF Phase I. You can only get in by appointment, but the good thing is that the appointments times are usually met, so you don’t have to wait too long.

If you have had any experiences with Ultrasounds in Gurgaon, please leave a comment.

By the looks of it, the hospital seems very modern and professionally managed. The staff at all desks are friendly and eager to help. It contains a 24 hour cafeteria and a 24 hour pharmacy (two things that I believe are a must for any decent hospital). It is located near Park Plaza hotel in Sushant Lok 1. Now I will talk about our experience.

The Emergency Ward

We started out in the emergency ward. The experience was positive enough. We had to wait for a long time (as my wife’s situation wasn’t life threatening at all, so the doctor had prioritized her accordingly). A battery of tests was ordered (and was required) as soon as the doctor had a chance to examine her. This is where the system disappointed me a little. I would expect these tests to be carried out in a process and I would expect the patient to be notified of the progress of steps in this process.

We had to wait for a long time before someone came to take blood samples and other measurements. We weren’t informed of how long this might take. We just had to wait wondering if they had forgotten about us. I actually had to walk over to a nurse to figure out if something is actually happening (something I didn’t want to do as I didn’t want to interrupt activities in an emergency ward). Furthermore, the on-duty doctor had forgotten to queue my wife for an Ultrasound (which the doctor who had checked my wife had asked for). It was only when the doctor came back to check again did she get queued for an Ultrasound.

The Admission Desk

So after a lot of waiting, the conclusion was to get my wife admitted. Here’s where things started getting a little better for us. I was asked to go to the admissions department to get things rolling. This was a very smooth and quick process where the person at the admission desk got us going very quickly and efficiently.

There was a small confusion where when I presented my Insurance Card, they first said that they do have a link and I will be able to do a TPA on this. Then they came back and said that there is no link up and I will have to go for a direct reimbursement on my own. I was ok with that, and placed a deposit (a requirement if you don’t have a TPA with clearance).

I chose a Single Room (instead of shared, and though they have deluxe rooms available, I was informed  that they haven’t starting using them yet). Anyway, the cost of a single room is Rs. 5000 per night, and if a doctor visits you in a single room then you are charged Rs. 800 per visit (which is more than you would be charged if it was a shared room, a logic that I don’t understand at all).

I was issued 2 passes, one a visitor pass and another an attendant pass. The guards posted at the elevators and stairs check for these passes when you move between the general hospital area and the area where the rooms are located.

After I had cleared the formalities, my wife was moved from the emergency ward to the room.

The Room and Room Services

First impression was that the room was disappointing. It was a small room, and for Rs. 500 more, you get a much bigger room in Artemis (and for much less you get a huge room in Privat Hospital, though that one is not as modern). There is barely room to move around in the room.

For a modern hospital, the bed was also a little disappointing (but maybe I expected too much). I would have expected (for the price I paid) to see a bed which would have electronically controlled bed adjustment. Instead if I needed to raise the back of my wife’s bed, it had to be cranked manually. Secondly, there was a small uncomfortable couch for me (the attendant) on which I was supposed to sleep or wait (even if they wanted to, they couldn’t put a big one for lack of space).

The problems however stopped here. The room service more than made up for these shortcomings. We had continuous attention by very polite people who would come and check on us. We had visits from the dietician and room services who checked whether the food and service was up to our satisfaction (this check was done daily). We received a daily visit from the housekeeping supervisor who wanted to check if the room is being cleaned regularly.

The food arrived on time, and was always brought by a well dressed person who would be wearing a hair net to prevent any hair falling into the food. They have a separate kitchen for the patients which serves all types of cuisines based on the preference of the patient. The food was generally tasty. They also have room service for attendants which brings food from two different cafeterias they have on premises.

The Nursing Staff

Very courteous nursing staff, well spoken, and always smiling; when you are sick, you really do want to be surrounded by such professionals. This is of course expected of any good caliber hospital.

Once again, the only thing missing was feedback. We asked a nurse to call my wife’s doctor to come and visit, and although we got the visit eventually, the nurse never came back to let us know if she has notified the doctor or not, and what time will the doctor be visiting us.

The Discharge

This is where things got a little harrowing. We were notified that my wife will be discharged in the morning (around 9 am). And we finally left the hospital around 5:30 pm. It took that long to get the discharged processed. And here’s why.

First up, since I was going to make a cash payment, I would have expected it to be very quick. Apparently, it takes up to 2 hours to even get to that stage (clearances, documentation, etc.). I was surprised to see that a lot of this process was being done manually. I would have expected a hospital of this size to have software automation which covers these aspects.

In any case, once this was done I was notified that my case is not a cash payment one but a TPA one (remember that I had been told that Max is not linked with my insurance company, as it turned out, this was not the case). Now while I was happy that I can would be able to do a Cashless transaction (and kudos to Max for tracking this down), this meant that the discharge process just got longer (as you need a clearance from the insurance company for the claim before you can discharge).

Conclusion

The overall impression is still good and I would recommend anyone to visit this hospital if they ever need one.

I have had many reasons to visit the doctor in the past 5 years that I have been in Gurgaon, and so I can talk a little bit about all the various places that I have been to. Almost all my visits have been to the bigger hospitals or clinics. Let me start with my most recent visit:

Artemis Health Institute

This is a new addition to the Gurgaon healthcare scene, and this is the one that I like the most so far. I have been here for dental work, and I know friends who have got eye surgery as well as radiation therapy done from here. And all of us are overall happy with the results.

What are the flip sides? It’s a little pricey. For example, a root canal would set you back about Rs. 3200 (and of course then you would need to pay out for the crowning).

However, with the price, you also get very good clinical standards. I once went to a private dental clinic near Sector 15 (I don’t want to name the doctor), and although the doctor seemed very competent, I was not comfortable going back there again. The doctor’s assistants were working in my mouth with the same hands that they had just used to clean up the table (no gloves, no washing, etc.). They were mixing stuff that had to go into my mouth with bare hands.

Compare this with Artemis, where a fresh sterilized set of instruments is used for every patient, and everyone wears a fresh pair of gloves before they even touch your mouth. I had one visit, where an assistant accidentally dropped his glove while trying to put it on, and immediately, the doctor asked him to get a new glove on.

Everything is not perfect

Parking: There are other small irregularities which I don’t like about the place. You have to pay to park. I have never been to another hospital where that was needed. And they only have designated parking for about 20 cars. Once those are full, you have to park in the driveways. I would call that very bad planning for a 500 bed hospital.

Reception: My wife summarized it perfectly: “The OPS registration is not very friendly”. Which doesn’t mean that they are impolite or rude. It’s just that it’s not very warm. Although I would say they are more efficient than other places that I have seen in the past.

Overall

Overall, I would say, it is a good place to go. The doctors look competent. The place looks clean and professional. And the overall atmosphere is good.

Here’s an added bonus. They have a 24 hour food court which includes a Subway counter. So, if you need to have a sandwich in the middle of the night, you can go there.

Their website: http://www.artemishospital.in/