• Healthcare decisions should be simpler. You deserve to know which Doctors, Hospitals, Clinics are the highest quality, have the appropriate experience, and can deliver the best outcome as per your condition and medical history.

• You, the patient shouldn't be burdened to make medical decisions with little, unqualified information.

• When you or your loved ones are looking at a complicated health situation, you should be able to get second opinions and explore sound alternatives easily.

• Great Doctors, clinics and hospitals should be able to reflect their expertise and not get lost in the seemingly "sameness" of online profiles.

• Lesser qualified Doctors, clinics and hospitals should not get away with providing poor care. Unscientific treatments should be called out.

Satya’s Fracture which needed an implant

While returning home, Satya met with a traffic accident. Suddenly his arm didn’t feel like where it was, and he had severe pain in the upper arm. It seemed like the case of a fracture or dislocated shoulder. A random stranger suggested Sakra Hospitals since the big brands – Apollo and Fortis were far from there. Assuming it is only an outpatient procedure, we just wanted a nearby hospital.

As it turned out, the fracture was major, in the upper limb of the arm – near the nerves which control the movement of the hand and would require a surgery (and an implant) with two days in the Hospital. Our immediate concern was whether the surgery is the best course? Why wouldn’t a cast do it? We used our second-opinion service to understand that surgery was indeed the best course of treatment.

Our next concern was whether Sakara’s orthopedics department and the Surgeon were good. This, unfortunately, can’t be answered using little information, ill-matched reviews provided on doctor appointment sites. Cost, being out of pocket, was another concern but again nothing on the internet helps with the same.

So we made these decisions like millions do each year, with our gut – Titanium is a cool metal isn’t it – an implant of that would be good too! The Doctor is an orthopedic surgeon and went to Australia for a fellowship – sounds good! The estimate given initially was Rs 1.3 lac – how much variation would there be in different hospitals – 10-20,000? The final bill reached Rs 2 lac!

The hand has healed well, achieving full motion in 3 months. But whatever we learnt about the surgery, the doctors and the Orthopedic department at Sakra stays with us – it could very well help other patients with similar cases make decisions!

Experience of Gurlivleen’s mother with Cataract

A local ophthalmologist diagnosed Gurlivleen’s mother with Cataract. The Doctor suggested surgery in due course, which couldn’t be done in the small town. Curious what is in store, his mother turned to the “experts” on Television. According to them, Cataract is an inpatient procedure – a couple of days in the hospital and then at least complete rest for a couple of months with minimal work for next four months. This was just not viable for her because she has to take care of her mother as well – so she procrastinated the surgery without regards to its ill-effects. She should have shared these non-medical concerns with her Doctor, but like most patients, she didn’t.

Fortunately, she met a friend of her neighbour who had just gotten a cataract surgery. The patient shared her experience – an outpatient surgery, how she was back home in 6 hours, how it has a speedy recovery and doesn't impede day to day work. An entirely different story from what the experts on TV were saying! She went to the same Randhawa Eye Hospital and just like that the ordeal was over.

Unfortunately, most of us are not lucky to have a friend who has had the same medical issue. What if Randhawa Clinic could reach the patient considering the surgery with such stories – answering the questions of the patients and also demonstrate their success & expertise?