I will share my personal experience here. My daughter was kept in NICU & then children's ward of Agha Khan for many days. Before the discharge my mother cleared all the bills , since my parents were paying to them on regular basis at the time of discharge there was just a balance of 3000 rs which my mom paid thru her credit card and we got the discharge. Mind you in AKUH you can not leave without discharge slip and they only issue discharge slip after verifications.
Now after 4 months of her discharge , we got this very angry call from someone from Agha Khan at our house # . My mom attended the phone and the guy on the other side just started yelling that you people have not cleared the bills and blah blah , very rude he was. He said we have to pay them 18k rupees. I spoke with them I said that why you gave us discharge that day without checking & now after 4 months you have come to your senses ? still with same rude tone he spoke with me. Then my dad got involved , after hearing from a MAN they check the accounts again and confirmed that nothing is payable and there was an error.
I can tell you the guy was very rude and God knows what calculations they did to come to a RS 18k amount payable to them by us.
So I can very well relate to what the hospital staff must be putting them through.
Medical treatment in Pakistan has become very costly. Hospitalisation for a week ! then you should be prepared to spare some 100,000/- for it.
My bhabis rishterdaar had a baby, hes 9 month now, he had some issues, health issues, which needed urgent operatiing on. they are in pakistan. anyway, the hosp refused to operate until they paid the fee. !! Now this is nothing surprising to me, i know how hosp in pak work, but hes 9 months and was most def going to die had he not been operated on urgently, poor fmaily had to do whatever they could, i think my bhabi sent money but it took time. the nurses were rude and brash and said thats hosp policy, and if they cant find the money then they can just get lost. not sure whats happen ed since, but its not as if the family were poor, but getting money that amount couldnt be done that quickly.
apparently the docs were rude too, blunt, and said the fee was to be made before they even bothered to speak to the parents.
is this common practise in pak.dusgusting.
Yes this is very common in PAK any hospital whether its Private or Public, if u have lots of money u can do anything every one respect u from peon liftman to doctor or medical staff if u don’t have then just pray to ALLAH for the patient nothing else u can do the procedure and documentation is big hurdle for the attendant when he’s going through these processes he will become a patient.
When ur love one in admit in hospital Dr wrote those medicine which is never available in the hospital then u have to search all place within city with highly mental stress sometime u got it or sometimes u never that medicine its long story regarding hospitalization.
doctors are going through the toughest times in Pak these days.
I myself witnessed a few days back how the relatives beat the young doctor on duty up because their patient (who happened to be a terminal patient of hepatorenal syndrome ie liver and kidney failure) passed away. She was 70 years of age. Worse the doctor also had to face the inquiry the next day.
Every alternate day 56 hours of duty for a pay of 22k PKR is a nightmare. Not to mention the complimentary abuse and inquiries!
The entire system is at fault. In public hospitals doctors are being subject to crap treatment even when they willingly try to help the patients and in private sector the patients are harrassed for money and bills!
If hospital/doctors didn't ask for money upfront, people wouldn't even bother paying. They need to get PAID for their services. Do u expect a restaurant to give out free meals to starving people?