Visitor charges at Hospitals - very unethical practice in India.

If you are staying in a Hotel and a guest comes to see you, the guest does not pay Visiting Charge at Reception desk. But in Indian Hospitals it is different.

Why is it that Indian Hospitals - including some large ones take visiting charges from patient's relatives? It is so embarrassing for relatives being stopped by security asking for visiting pass. You then walk to the reception desk and pay Rs. 10 to get a pass. No ids asked, no information even requested on whom you are going to visit. Just an unethical way of collecting funds.

They may as well run a fund raising campaign or ask charity rather than collect such amounts.

Besides, these are cash transactions and never reported in books. And the monthly collection is so high that it easily pays at least 3 to 4 person's salaries.

What is community viewpoint on such charges from Hospitals?

Roshan
http://medicaltourismbootcamp.kosansh.com - Are you attending 10th January Medical Tourism Bootcamp in Ahmedabad?

Tags: Ethics

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Syed I Ahmed on January 21, 2010 at 2:55am
I dont think this kind of practice is followed all over India, perhaps this done in a few regions, I have nver heard or seen this practice atleast in Bangalore.
Permalink Reply by Raj K Bhalla on December 21, 2009 at 3:59pm
your brought something with India mentioned in subject as it happens everywhere in India that at best is really at your local village or wherever you are.

Don't tell me its all over India. I know it can't be. It may be at a few places you can count on your fingertips

A petty non-issue that does a great deal of damage to India's reputation, unnecessarily brought here.

I feel disgusted and expect better quality inputs or this is your masterpiece?

If you saw it happen why didn't you try to correct it in somehow or try to get to the bottom of the matter?

To the larger world out there- India may have several issues but this is not a reflection of hospitals in India, hence best to discredit it totally.
Permalink Reply by Karen Derewenko on December 22, 2009 at 2:21am
Absolutely absurd! Patients from other countries should be forewarned of this type of activity. When they go back to their home country, they will share that with other patients only to embarrass the hospital and the facilitator that sends them. Too many bait and switches only abuse the rights of patients when they are sent by a company promising them all expenses are pre-paid. And if this is false information as Raj says, then it needs to be 'squelched" now before any further damage is done. Someone needs to take names for further information.
Permalink Reply by The Travellers Clinic on December 22, 2009 at 2:43am
Dear All,

First of all we usually not replied on discussions but this time we have to involve in this because the message floating here is totally going against India, Pls the frquent flotters of Blogs and Discussions Be Aware Before Launching Your Discussion . Request From Everybdy pls behave like responsible person/company before launching your blogs , If somthing going wrong in your area ,which is not meaningful to share here and its in your knowledge then pls either digest it or try to correct it at your level . Pls Dont involve whole India in it and Please again request from you that Next Time nobody will launch such a pitty discussion Mr. Roshan regards to your feelings this reply becomes necessary because after reading to your blog may be sombdy wants to start the New Blog "That Vehicle Parking In Indian Hospitals Are Too Expensive... Its Unethical Practice"
Rgds
Permalink Reply by Roshan Shah on December 22, 2009 at 3:50am
Hmm...interesting. So does this mean this platform is only to get viewpoint of facilitators and promoters and negative feedback is not encouraged? What about overall patient's experience? Visitor charges may just be one thing and agreed it is a small thing. To a patient and their relatives every small thing matters for overall satisfying experience.

So also it means that topics like the following are also trivial and should be left out of discussions:

- Hospital not picking up 24x7 emergency phone number?
- Cleanliness of Rooms, Toilets, etc?
- Overcharging patients and not informing them of estimated costs of treatment?
... list is long but just curtailed it.

This is not false information. I wish it was. Yes, we need positive spin but we can't ignore negative feedback. It is there so Hospital Administrators can see where they need to improve.

Many of thse may not be India specific. I didn't take names of Hospitals and it is not my intention but MTA or someone can certainly check with Hospital Administrators whether this fact is true and if so what can be done to give patients overall positive experience.


Roshan
Permalink Reply by Christopher Hobbs on December 23, 2009 at 3:13am
Roshan

FYI - in a North American hospital, a visitor may be charged $10 USD - or significantly more - simply for parking their car on hospital grounds while visiting a patient. A charge of this nature is prevalent in most other parts of the world. In my opinion this charge is a matter of disclosure, not of revenue. If a patient and his or her visitors know about this fee in advance and are not surprised by it, it is not really an issue.

Having said the above, I believe the other topics you note are completely relevant.

Regards
Permalink Reply by Omkumar Krishnan on December 23, 2009 at 4:14am
Christopher

The disclosure clause is probably the matter. Most of time the Visiting hours are only visible at these counters. In most hospitals as parking space is limited (maybe to control visitor traffic) even after paying the fees it is difficult to find space especially in metropolitan cities.
Omkumar

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