Treatment in Mumbai under Dr. S H Adwani

Thank you Mr.Rajesh Goyal for sharing the info:

A) How to approach Dr. S H Adwani:

1) Morning 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Sushrut Hospital & Research Centre.
365,Swastik Park,Chembur (East),
Mumbai 400 071.
Tel No.: 91 (022) 25265555 / 25265500 / 2528 3302
Fax No.: 91 (022) 25288751 / 25265557
E-mail : health@sushruthospital.org
Website: www.sushruthospital.org

(My nephew is being treated here. Dr. Adwani remains in hospital from 10 AM in morning till 3 PM in evening. No prior appointment is required for consultation. Just visit the hospital and seek Dr. Adwani at reception. Doctor fee is Rs. 500. This is the hospital where he gives his most time, about 5 hrs daily except Sundays)

2) Evening 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
S.L. Raheja Hospital (It's a Fortis Network Hospital)
Raheja Rugnalaya Marg,
Mahim (W), Mumbai,
Maharashtra - 400016
Fax:+91-22-24445225
Emergency No:+91-22-66529888
info@rahejhospital.com

(Again no appointment needed)

3) (Not sure about timing but it should be in evening)
Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre
15 - Dr. Deshmukh Marg, Pedder Road,
Mumbai- 400 026.
Tel No.  : 66573333 / 66573010
Fax. No.: 23520508
E-mail: info@jaslokhospital.net
Website: http://www.jaslokhospital.net 

4) (Dr Adwani visits Apollo Delhi once a month every month)
Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals
Sarita Vihar, Delhi Mathura Road
New Delhi - 110076 (India)
Phone No : + 91 - 11 - 2692 5858 / 2692 5801
Fax No : + 91 - 11 - 2682 5563

B) Treatment Cost:
1) Chemotherapy given in Day Care:
Rs. 2200 (includes on duty doctor's fees, nursing fee) + Chemotherapy Medicine (this can vary greatly from patient to patient, chemo medicine can be bought from hospital pharmacy).
Cost comes down as they charge Rs. 2200 only for first day and Rs. 1700 days subsequently. (Usually 5 days)

2) Chemotherapy given in In-Patient:
Hospital has many option including 
         i) 4 patient in ward (this is very big hall with AC, do not worry about cleanliness, very well maintained)
           Charge: Rs: 1250 + other charges + Chemotherapy Medicine cost
         ii) Another ward with Charge Rs. 500 (without AC)
         iii) Personal room with charge Rs. 3650
         iv) General Ward without any charge (As per my sister she has observed they are vacant and available most of the time).

Laboratory is available there and very good. Bone marrow test is done there but slide is sent to Raheja hospital for test and reporting.

Overall: I have found that hospital tries to minimize the cost as much as possible without even asking you as they know treatment is expensive and long.

Feedback on Dr. Adwani and Sushrut Hospital:
I would like begin here with 'Dr. focuses on resolution (how they can help the patient, treatment) rather than issue (disease). I have obeserved that Doctors in North India starts telling you about the problems and complications that you may get due to diseases which demoralizes patients and their family. We all know how dreadful cancer is, but at the end we have to fight (there is no other way). Attitude of Dr. Adwani and is very positive and so assuring that you literally get motivation and much needed energy to fight just by seeing him. Same goes to Dr. Imran who remains in hospital from morning till evening. You can ask them any question and they answer smilingly all the time. Infact they (Dr. Imran) keep on waiting if you want to ask anything (treatment, precautions, diet, fear, anything you heard about and wants to confirm). I don't mean to say they give false hopes but they remains positive.

My sister told me that when first chemo did not work out, everyone was worried, So we asked Dr. Imran should we seek any Ayurvedic treatment along with chemotherapy. His answer was 'Dont panic, it happens some times and we have lot at our didpense as of now. If there will not be any anything which we can do, we will be first to ask you to intervene other alternative treatment, but not now'.

Nursing staff is also very caring. Infact go beyond their expected duties to help.

I don't mean to criticize private hospitals and doctors here in Delhi and North India by any means (nor all the same, some are very good) but most have become businessmen. Doctors in south are still doctors and focuses on what they should i.e. treatment.

Dr. Adwani's Website: http://www.drsureshadvani.com/. He also helps out patients which are not that privileged through his charitable organization.

I hope this would have given you a feedback on Sushrut Hospital, Dr. Adwani, other doctors there, nursing staff or may be we are fortunate to have everyone good to us.

The battle may have been lost but the war goes on.

Sometimes life makes you wonder about the mysteries...Exactly after one year .. i got to know that another beautiful life lost because of AML.

I got to know about Sonia Rai via a bone marrow search drive 'CureSonia' originated by her family...they found the match after Cure Sonia movement become a huge reach.
Although she could not benefit from a transplant, there will be many others that will through these efforts.

I feel saddened and quite helpless, but I  trust she will rest in peace, secure in the knowledge of how many lives she touched.

Goodbye Sonia...

50/50 .. Movie for young cancer patients

I never thought someone can describe cancer in such light manner.. highly recommended for young cancer patients

Do watch : 50/50
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1306980/

Medanta is under C.G.H.S panel

Medanta Hospital ( gurgaon) is now comes under C.G.H.S panel... 

T.P.A Help Desk:

Contact : 0124 4141414 , 4411441 Ext: 2812, 2815

Fax: 0124 4834111

Email: tpa.desk@medanta.org

website: www.medanta.org

This little guy needs your help ..

A small help can be a life saver....     http://www.helpujjwal.com/

For Other Patients -- I know this is not the best portal to ask for help, but I want you to visit this website for another reasons:

1. Check the way they create this website If you are planning to go for some help related funds.. one of the best website I have seen so far (best example for the content they have used). 
2. Note they used CPAA (Cancer Patients AID Association - http://www.cpaaindia.org)  help .. in this way they have avoided giving direct account number and future Income tax issue

I shall try to collect more info how to go about these website.. please share if you have any.

MRD (minimum residual disease) test

MRD test is a new thing i heard in AML cases, yes it might be a common word for you, but at least this is not used in AIIMS

What is Minimum Residual Disease ( MRD ) test?

Progress in understanding DNA changes in AML has already provided a highly sensitive test for detecting the smallest amount of leukemia left after treatment (minimal residual disease), even when so few leukemia cells are present that they cannot be found by routine bone marrow tests.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test can identify AML cells based on their gene translocations or rearrangements. This test can find one leukemia cell among a million normal cells. A PCR test can be useful in determining how completely the treatment has destroyed the AML cells.

Doctors are now trying to determine what effect minimal residual disease has on a patient's outlook, and how this might affect the need for further or more intensive treatment.

Source: http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/Leukemia-AcuteMyeloidAML/DetailedGuide/leukemia-acute-myeloid-myelogenous-new-research

When this test is done?

Immediately after your last chemotherapy ( before discharge )

Where it can help?

Well definitely a negative report means there is no Leukaemia cell is present in body, it means longer remission period..

but if it comes out Positive, then it definitely means lets prepare for BMT.

In some sense this test helps both doctor and patient to take a decision on Bone Marrow Test ( BMT )  

Cost of the Test In India?

Not know so far.

Estimate of whole treatment - MEDANTA HOSPITAL

Please Note: The below info is couple of year old now.. and rates must have been revised.
If you have latest info, feel free to share here .

Thank you Ashish Saxena * for sharing the info.

Medanta Medicity Hospital

Sector 38, Gurgaon.

The multi-speciality hospital (also known as Dr Trehan's hospital) is just about 2yrs old but already among the top hospitals in Delhi in terms of facilities as well as the renowned doctors on its panel. It has become the hospital of choice for many because of the following:

Heart Institute with Dr Naresh Trehan(world renowned cardiologist, http://www.medanta.org/DoctorProfile.aspx?Key=52)

Gastroentology Department with Dr Sud (renowned gastroentologist, http://www.medanta.org/DoctorProfile.aspx?Key=91)

Cancer Institute with Dr Ashok Vaid (renowned oncologist, http://www.medanta.org/DoctorProfile.aspx?Key=51)

Also, the team of doctors in each department have been handpicked from other good hospitals such as AIIMS, Ganga Ram, Max, Fortis, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Instt. etc

Coming back to Cancer treatment, and more specifically Leukemia, the patient will be looked after by Dr Rahul Bhargava (ex-AIIMS SR) and Dr Ashok Vaid. (Dr Sachin, Dr Bhanu and Dr Jyoti will come into picture if the patient has cancerous growth /tumors etc). Each of the consultants in Dr Ashok Vaid's team are proven experts in their own field and highly competent. The Cancer Institute OPDs and patient ward is situated on the 10th floor.

Room costs (as of 1st Aug'11):  Rs 6000.00 per day for single room

                                               Rs 3500.00 for twin sharing room

All the medicines and non-consumables are provided in-house by the hospital and is made available by the nursing staff right in your room. So only one attendant is sufficient for the hospital stay. There is a couch and bedding(sheets, blanket and pillow) provided to the attendant as well. A Sony LCD TV is provided for each patient with 30+ channels to keep them busy! The rooms are cleaned 2-3 times a day and all of the hospital premises is very much clean and hygenic as per international standards(have been to hospitals in Melbourne and London, hence the comparison)

The formal visits by the team of doctors in each room happens 2 times a day and charges are Rs 600 per visit. So, Rs 1200 per day is the additional cost every patient has to inccur besides the room cost. The doctors also keep visiting informally just to see how patients are doing in case of high fever etc and other complications (at no extra cost) and as per my experience they are highly comitted towards their patients.. (surprise visits at midnight are quite common!)

The cost of treatment at Medanta depends upon complications during the treatment.

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Below is a general estimate for an AML patient:

Minimum cost per chemo cycle will be around 2.8lacs (twin sharing room) and about 3.5lacs (single room).

So a minimum cost for 4 cycles of chemo will come to around 12-14lacs assuming all 4 chemo cycles go smooth with no infection, complications, no tumors etc

Note: the first chemo cycle will also have charges of the 2-3 cytogenic tests performed (each costing about 10k) plus the tests performed (CT scan, Xray etc) to look for other cancerous growths/abnormality) in the body, so add another 50-60k for this in addition to the cost of the chemo cycle.

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Any infections/ complications can escalate the costs by atleast 50k or more and on an average of 1.5 -2lacs. So the patient and attendant should take all precautions necessary (masks, hand rub etc) to ward of infection (especially during the neutropenic period). Visits by relatives should be highly discouraged and avoided as far as possible.

For an AML patient there is a minimum of 20-22days of hospital stay per cycle. In case of infection and complications the stay is extended.

Bone marrow/ stem cell transplant at Medanta:

Medanta has a specialised transplant center on 11th floor where only related marrow transplants are carried out. Since, Medanta is still a new hospital so it is not yet authorised to do MUD (Matched Unrelated Donor) Transplants (as of 1st Aug'11). However, we have been told that within the next 6mths to 1yr, it will get this authority. However, the doctors here already have a wealth of expertise and experience to do the transplants (already being done for patients having related donor matches).

HLA profiling and typing at Medanta:

It is highly recommended to have the HLA profiling and matching done from Histogenetics USA (as per Shashank's earlier posts).

As per my experience, the HLA lab at Medanta is very expensive (10.5k for basic HLA matching between one sibling, another 10.5k for taking patient's sample for matching. So we spent about 21k just for finding whether I am a match for my brother and still had no complete HLA profile of my brother to initiate the search in international marrow registries).