Checking for TB, temporary escape from the hospital, and Indian hospital payments
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
room 2223 Apollo Hospital
Checking for TB, temporary escape from the hospital, and Indian hospital payments
I am feeling better. I had no fever yesterday evening, I had almost no cold sweats last night, I slept well, and I had only a low fever of 100.0 F this morning when I woke up, which soon went away.
After talking repeatedly to my parents and last night to my uncle, who is a physician, I am now convinced of the importance of trying to get a diagnosis of whether I have tuberculosis. It is important in order to receive the right treatment to prevent a recurrence, and also for my travels, so that I am not carrying around a contagious form of the disease.
Yesterday I escaped from the hospital in order to get more money to pay for my expenses. The hospital did not let me go on my own; they sent me with a security guard escort. For a moment I had the idealistic idea that the guard was to protect me after I had withdrawn money from the ATM from any robbers; I quickly realized of course that they did not want me leaving the hospital on my own because I could leave and not come back without paying. A hospital is as much a jail as it is a place to get better.
While out zipping around with the security guard in an autorickshaw, I also made the driver stop by an Airtel shop in order to top up my talktime on my mobile. Each day I am talking to my parents and friends about my progress, and being confined to the hospital, it is impossible to take care of little tasks that would normally be very easy for me to do day-to-day on my own.
On the way to the Airtel shop, we passed a Coffee Day, an upscale coffee shop in India that seems to be in every major metropolitan center. It's the Starbucks of India. I made the rickshaw driver stop. The security guard did not seem to care. I ordered a real cappucino. I saw a chicken tikka sandwich, a real sandwich, large, with real chicken and real spices. I ordered one of those. I saw a chicken submarine sandwich. I ordered that. I saw a piece of chocolate cake. I ordered that. I saw a large tin of chocolate chip cookies. I ordered that.
I took it all in a large bag for take-out and brought it back to my hospital room. My appetite was back and I was really dragging about the hospital food: all vegetarian, all South Indian, and not very good South Indian food at that. An example of an attempt at Western food were two tiny slices of soggy bread, with miniscule pieces of cucumber and carrots. After the first one I told them not to send anymore; it was too depressing.
It was late afternoon, about four o'clock. I scarfed down the chicken tikka sandwich, savored the cappucino, and devoured the chocolate cake. I stashed the chicken sandwich and tin of chocolate chip cookies for later consumption. As far as I know no one in the hospital knows I had these delights. My mission outside had been a success.
In Indian hospitals everything is paid for beforehand. When I visited the hospital for a treatment, such as the chest X-Ray I had, I first went to the billing department. I paid for the cost of the procedure, and then I took the receipt and waited outside the X-ray room for the procedure. When I was admitted to the hospital, the first thing they did was ask me for a 10,000 rupee deposit (about US$220). This was to cover room, food, and nursing expenses, and the costs of the more expensive tests. Each day when they bring medicine to my room, I pay for the medicine from my pocket and get a receipt.
I suppose this is not too different from a hospital in the U.S. In the U.S. they will verify that you have medical insurance and also ask for a major credit card. If they don't have some sort of guarantee of payment upfront, the odds are higher that they will spend time and money trying to collect from the patient later money they may never get. The hospital here would also have taken a major credit card from me, however I have been paying for all of my travel expenses in cash (except for two plane tickets) after withdrawing money from an ATM. I prefer to have some control over my payment for everything while traveling, instead of letting someone have open-ended access to my credit card.
It has been eye-opening to pay for all expenses upfront and in cash. Sometimes it is difficult to get from the billing department what the costs of tests and procedures will be ahead of time and have some idea of what things are going to cost. It takes some doing to keep them from having me over a barrel.
It has been indispensable to have my parents, siblings, and friends available via mobile phone and email to help me through the decisions I have made about addressing this fever. It is a completely different world than it was twenty years ago. Then, when you got sick halfway around the world, you were on your own. It must have been a lonely and terrifying experience. Now, I've got my network to help me figure things out day-to-day, hour-to-hour if necessary, and help me do the right thing. It's a psychological support as well as a physical support.
Checking for TB, temporary escape from the hospital, and Indian hospital payments
