Monday, September 12, 2011

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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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).

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Fund Raise & Estimate of whole treatment - I

Fund Raising & Cost Estimation of Total Treatment - I

This is the major issue during treatment of AML,

The approximately cost of treatment ( Set of 4 chemo's ) will cost you somewhere around 8-10 lakhs (depends upon the complications during chemo cycles.)
* Cost during treatment in AIIMS

In Private hospitals like Medanta, or Gangaram, BL Kapur the cost may rise to 12-15 lakhs
* I know a person who got treatment in Medanta, luckily the escape chemo on minimum antibiotic (FORCON)


If you are planning to go for Bone Marrow Transplant, then budget will depend upon whether you get a match  in your family or not.
 Lets assume if you get a match in your family (Sibling) then its the best case scenario where you can go for BMT  in less then 11 Lakhs ( in AIIMS with minimum complication), lets assume 20 Lakhs in private hospital.

 If you did not get match in your family, you can go for Unrelated Marrow Transplant (MUD - Transplant)
1) If you get a match in GERMANY - MUD will cost you 25-30 Lakhs in CMC Vellore (AIIMS is not doing MUD currently)
2) IF you get a match in US/CANADA/UK/AUSTRALIA - MUD will cost you around 50-60Lakhs.


In short Total expense would be close to


  • Simple Chemo cycle - 10Lakhs
  • Relapsed then Chemo Cycle --> 5-20Lakhs (cost us around 22Laks)
  • BMT > Match in family > 10-15Laks                   ----- Total would be 10+10+60+5 = 85 Lakhs*
  • BMT > MUD > Germany match > 25-30Lakhs   ----- Total would be 10+10+25+5 = 50 Lakhs*                                               
  • BMT > MUD > Other then Germany > 60Lakhs  ----- Total would be 10+10+60+5 = 85 Lakhs*


Take approx 5 Lakhs rupees for accommodation, travelling, and other post transplant cost.

Usually people go for Donation and seeks people help.


People like Gaurav Tondon got nearly 1 crore as donation ( http://www.helpgaurav.com)
Please do get in touch with him, i am quite sure he will guide you in this process.


My another good friend (Ashish Saxena - email: ax.ash@gmail.com is also working on this for his brother.  


Other good link (will surely cover more on this)  - http://www.wikihow.com/Fundraise-for-Charity


Other Links: http://www.causes.com/campaigns/62194?cause_id=224871