Post #13: knee problems in India

Ken's good knee (with replacement) is on the right -- and the new bad knee on the left.

During the first week in India, Ken tripped into one of the famous Delhi potholes and screwed up his knee -- not the replaced knee, but the other knee. Six weeks later and still in a fair amount of pain, we asked the Fulbright office for a good MD, and they immediately recommended one to us.

We very quickly had an appointment with a well known family doc living right in our little community. We saw her at her home during evening office hours, and she referred us for an MRI. The MRI unfortunately showed partial tears to two of the ligaments as well as cartilage tears. She referred us to a high end ortho-surgeon in a classy private hospital, who also saw us immediately, had some x-rays taken, and indicated that a surgical repair was needed, but happily not another knee replacement. We didn't want to lose three of our remaining weeks in India in recuperation, so surgery is certainly off till we are back in the USA.The doc gave Ken a cortisone shot, and the pain is pretty much gone for now. So we're back on track.

During the hospital visit Caroline chatted with two docs while waiting for Ken. While both doctors would choose a public hospital for treatment of a rare or complicated condition, they praised the efficiency and the personal and courteous treatment at the private hospitals. There is little or no wait for service at the private facilities and substantially longer waits at the overburdened, financially starved and dirty public facilities.  In India one can go directly to a specialist, and without gatekeeper patients utilize higher level services when primary care services are sometimes all they need.

An interesting experience. Very little hassle arranging visits. Excellent facilities everywhere. Incredibly busy and well staffed facilities. Exceptional treatment.

And (drumroll): the entire cost to us for two doc visits, one in the hospital, the MRI, X-rays, pain killers and a cortisone shot: less than $200!  Unreal.

MAX Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi -- classy! It could easily be part of Anne Arundel Medical Center

Max Hospital even has a classy Whole Foods Cafe in  the lobby.


BUT IN INDIA, THERE'S ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE ANOTHER STORY JUST AROUND THE CORNER:

After leaving the hospital - feeling like royalty - Ken quickly got brought back to earth. Just outside of MAX Hospital, actually right off the entrance ramp just around the corner, several squatter families were living under tarps.  

The average Indian rural family lives on $400 a year, just double our little medical experience, and none of these squatter families are making close to the average income levels. There were of course lots of Indians served at MAX Hospital -- indeed 95% are Indians, but services must be paid before you see anyone. 

These squatter families may live just outside of MAX, but they may never get inside MAX.

After meeting with staff members at Brookings India, we were told that MAX hospital treats patients from all over India. Families often come along but have no place to live.  While there may be money to pay for the medical care, or the family borrows for it, the family must live on the street while the patient receives long term treatment.  So some of the street people we see may only be temporarily homeless while family members are under treatment -- that's probably not the case with the folks in these pictures.

We will have a lot more to say about Indian health care in future posts, since we are spending a lot of time digging into health reforms in India. Suffice to say here that inequality in health care runs deep in India, as it does in America.