Bad ER experience

A few days ago, due to back injury, I went to the ER in Sime Darby Medical Center (SDMC) in Subang Jaya, which dubbed themselves as one of Asia’s best-kept secrets, as you can see from the website.

However, as unfortunate as it might sound, the entire process, the moment I was registered until I paid the cashier, it took me about 4 hours!

Here, I’m talking about a private medical center, where I walked in and put money into their pockets, to be treated like a dirt.

The thing is, I wasn’t the only one who was made to wait for long hours, albeit the pain suffered.

Many of us, who were very frustrated, started to talk to each other and comparing the waiting hours, as in who hold the record waiting hours.

One of them was relating her experience with SDMC, saying that it used to be fine, but given the poor experience, she would be reluctant to re-visit the hospital in the future.

At the same time, I overheard someone was sarcastically saying that even Government hospital is faster (i.e. as in serving time) than SDMC!

It was really a painful process, both physical pain (i.e. back pain) and emotional pain to be honest. Many of us decided to fill in the feedback form, to the extent that the box was completely filled.

Ex-MCA VP Donald Lim Siang Chai was one of them, putting in some poor remarks, which I believe, the QA Department (i.e. if there is any) should be getting the similar response from all of us, if not worse.

That made me think.

I remembered during my last visit to SDMC before this, it was really fine, consistent with what the Indian lady was telling me earlier.

But, can this be due to radical commercialization of private health care in this country, by putting money first, patient next?

Can this be due to the poor QA from the hospital itself?

How about any Quality Process Improvement (QPI) in such a health care center which is running like an organization and since it’s now completely money driven, ain’t it’s even more crucial to have a more fine-tuned process in place to drive down the cost, reduce the waiting time and increase the efficiency?

I can go on and on, but the point is, the service rendered is up to my expectation, as far as a private medical health care is concern, especially when health care industry is so competitive nowadays.

I’ve also put in my invaluable remarks and comments while waiting for my turn to be called, however, if the service level continues to dip without any tremendous improvement (especially when we’re talking about ER when we’re expected to pay a premium over the service), I’m sure SDMC stands to lose more than what they’re going earn, as far as the reputation is concern.

Till then, I doubt many of us, especially those who are kept to wait for long hours in the ER room last Sunday, would be impressed with the “we care, we serve” motto.