best hospital in bhopal or indore?

hi all,

i have had a bad fever - 102f for the past 24h and feel pretty terrible.

If it continues i plan to go to a hospital in bhopal or indore as recommended by the doc here in mandu who has given me paracetamol.

I have insurance so want to go to the best possible.

Thanks for any info.

hospital not hotel as the title states.

Please can a mod change it.

take paracetamol/calpol 650 mg if your weight is more than 50 kg .also take some antibiotic like ofloxacin ornidazole combination tab .maintain hygiene.

@johnblack, Please let's know your present location, so that IMers could suggest you nearest available Hospital/doctor.

There are a lot of good facilities in the region.

Sorry to hear you're coming down with a rough spot, JohnBlack.

The Apollo Hospitals chain comes commonly recommended as a "western and modern" sort of affair, will probably cost you a little extra, but should either way be manageable for anything not totally out of the ordinary. However, I see no immediate locations of theirs anywhere near to you: http://www.apollohospitals.com/.

More "regular" Indian hospitals can be something of a shocker to those who aren't used to it, however rest assured they'll normally treat you well. I have witnessed this taking some young white ladies I'd met and fresh to the country to one, in a main city too, to have one of them checked out who wasn't feeling too great; they didn't know how fast to get out of there again. I don't know, I grew up with such "third-world" hospitals (pardon the phrase), it doesn't really unsettle me. But so keep in mind it's probably better than it looks.

(Note also maybe at home you wouldn't so soon walk up to a hospital with something like a fever, but in a place like India this would be quite common, and anyway they won't at all be surprised at a foreigner doing so. Costs and whether you're insured or not won't generally be prohibitive, certainly not for again not anything way out of the ordinary.)

Prakaant, going by JohnBlack's recent post history, he should be in Mandu now, he had been thinking of going Mandu - Bhopal - Sanchi - Kanha. (Indeed he says above he's currently been advised by a doctor in Mandu.)

I guess indeed from Mandu, Indore or Bhopal (but the latter further away I think) would make sense to have it looked at.

There is also this gang whom you could possibly contact for their advice on where to seek a consultation or treatment: http://www.eastwestrescue.com/.

I imagine it will be terribly hot there at this time? Besides having this looked into which you really should, if necessary learn to take it easy, limit your activities to start and end of day, watch your fluids intake, try to keep up something of a healthy diet even if you don't feel like eating, and so on. (I would switch to snacks as much as I can muster instead of full meals in such weather, so to at least get something in, there are vitamin pills available with local drugstores as well as ORS -- oral rehydration solutions or salts --, now still try to get at least half a meal in now and then, and so on.)

But anyway, all these are more general considerations. You feel unwell and that something must be done about it; follow that instinct.

CHL Group of Hospitals are franchisee of Apollo Group of Hotels in Indore and has created CHL-Apollo Hospital. There are other facilities (average, good and very good) also available in the both the places.
Dhar is located near Mandu and there is a good hospital available there also.

BTW, reaching Indore could help him better.

<cross-posting with Prakaant just now. Yes, instead of Dhar, wouldn't one hop further to Indore be the better option? ps So this CHL franchise would be at http://www.chlhospitals.com/, thanks for that, Prakaant. I know they have such in many places, but not easily linked to from their main site; little silly, but whatever.>

ps JohnBlack, you've been describing how you're traveling on something of a budget.

Just wanted to say I know that mindset; but if you're feeling all lousy and like you just want to have it looked at, instead of hopping on another clanky bus that takes forever, it is worth it to snap out of that mindset for a minute, and so treat yourself to a taxi, will be worth its cost in gold. Indore isn't far away; by car, it will be a short and relatively comfortable ride. Could cost you some Rs. 1,500 or so, at a rough ballpark estimate; that will be worth it, if you really are feeling out.

Can that doc there not comment on a good place to visit?

I've similarly been down with the cramps btw in way budget places with shared bathroom and so forth. It really pays to pay the little extra to just have your private bathroom under such circumstances, you can move back later when it's over. It's easy to forget as a budgeteer what a little extra can do for you in a country like India. Even just a little more comfort doesn't have to cost a lot. Maybe just a room where you can feel somewhat at home as and while you're recovering. Now maybe some kind and understanding room service, a TV to watch, people you can actually reasonably communicate with, and so on.

If wished (and as PM facility to johnblack has started working), I may PM a nice hospital facility details which is available at Dhar.

Else, there are a lot of hospitals and doctors available at Indore including Bombay Hospital, Sri Aurobindo, etc, where people from all around visit for their treatments.

Suggest you do just that for him and without him asking, Prakaant, if only to ease his mind. Dhar would of course be roughly midway to Indore from Mandu if I'm not mistaken, so that more easily reached.

JohnBlack was checking in here just earlier, so after the above replies. I remember internet facilities in Mandu being not all that three years ago... (As in literally just about one horribly slow public web cafe machine in town if there wasn't one of frequent power cuts, and it of course being in quite some demand when it was up, at that time.) He'll probably be happy with your directions, and whenever he gets the chance to open them.

PMed as guided!

May I suggest that if you feel very lousy, you request the hotel for assistance. Once when I suffering from severe vascular headaches related to stress (I had taken time off work that I couldn't really afford to go to India for a dear friends wedding! After the even itself, where I was bouyed by adrenaline, I headed for the nearest big city for my flight connection and proceeded to collapse from exhaustion!), the manager of the hotel I was staying at actually personally took me to the nearest and best hospital, arranged my treatment to be expediated by talking to a friend who worked there, waited with me the whole time and even picked up my medicines for me so that I could go straight back to my room and rest. When I tried to leave a large tip for this amazing service, she was horrified and said that they would never do any less for a guest. She even paid for the medicine, if I recall correctly, as she didn't want to fiddle with small amounts.

The amount of help and responses I have recieved from everybody is quite amazing.

I would like to thank everybody for such informative and thoughtful posts.

I am currently in Indore and am happy to say feeling better than the past two days.

Yesterday I visited 2 doctors in Narcha (sp?) a place 9km away from mandu as i was told they had a particularly good doctor - Doctor Thacker. Unfortunately he was not there when we arrived but i saw a doc at the government hospital who spoke little english but my taxi driver who spoke some acted as a translator. I was tested for malaria and the result was thankfully negative. He also laughed off my suggestion of dengue which i was considering due to having been in Singapore where it is endemic. I also asked him to take my temperature and it was 101.5 so slightly better than the day before although certainly wasnt feeling any better. He prescribed some rehydration powder to mix with water, an antibiotic and told me to continue taking the paracetamol.

An English speaking teenager in the street then told me about a private doctor very close by and my taxi driver recommended we go there. I didn't really see the point as i felt I had the service I needed at the gov hospital but thought a second opinion wouldn't hurt. The private doctor took my blood pressure and changed my medication very slightly.

I then went back to Mandu to try and find more comfortable hotel to rest as Rupmati had become full due to a wedding booking but unfortunately it seemed so was royal palace and the place next to rupmati so i paid 1500 and went to decent, cool, comfortable Indore hotel.

I agree it is certainly better to spend more money and have some comfort when not feeling well and my proximity here in Indore to good doctors if needed is re-assuring.

I will stay here and rest until I am feeling better and try to eat as my apetite is almost nothing.

Thanks again for all the help, I appreciate the concern very much.

Glad to think we might have been of some help or comfort, John, and thanks for the update; as hopefully you've found, you're not quite alone out there (Good & nice you received some local assistance, too; in India and like DilSe also said, often all you need to do is ask, or then sometimes one doesn't need to ask at all. "Guest is God," as they say there, and this is often still true to a great extent.)

Yes, this is Nalcha, I had trouble forever catching the precise name, too. Probably looked it up on the web later, some locals took me to visit here, it is indeed halfway along the way to Dhar.

Yes, this is the ORS I mentioned, it stands for oral rehydration solution, or oral rehydration salts. It's readily available with any drugstore (or chemist or whatever they're called locally), not expensive, either. Follow instructions on the package, it will be for more than just a liter I think. It's also good when generally you're feeling lethargic, or suspect you're losing too much fluids because of sweating (which in both very hot and very humid weather may go quite unnoticed, btw; you may be sweating far more than you think). On the other hand, it shouldn't be overdone, too much sugar & salt isn't good for us, either. But use it when you feel it's needed, and trust your instincts with it. I once felt maybe I'd been overdoing it and my stool wasn't so great for a few days and me just not feeling so swell, so I dropped any ORS intake and sugary soft drinks, and it improved in a matter of days.

I once left the home recipe here: ORS (oral rehydration solutions/salts): The home recipe, the formula is just a simple 1 level teaspoon of salt + 8 level teaspoons of sugar in 1 liter of clean drinking water, shake to dissolve. You can of course ask for salt & sugar in any hotel or restaurant. I'm sure the pre-packaged stuff will have some minerals added and such, so would be preferred.

Vitamin pills in India, also to be had with any drugstore, I found not super-cheap, but it won't break the bank, either. Worth it if again you're feeling a little down, or suspect your diet may be lacking.

Yes, try and do that; of course with a real fever, you may just not feel much like eating, period. I guess where possible, stick to your mom's good old treatment of trying some light toast with perhaps butter or jam, yoghurt or muesli and stuff; buy some bouillon cubes (stock cubes) or similar and ask your hotel or a restaurant to throw some hot water onto it, that sort of thing.

When having stomach trouble there, I might even fast for a few days -- just don't overdo this, and again watch that fluids intake --, now carefully start up again on non-irritating food, plain rice with some curd (yoghurt/dahi) and bananas and peanuts or so, plain non-spicy and non-oily breads (chapatis and naan and the likes), and such. Certainly in more touristy places, they may well understand why you're asking for such.

But in the heat -- in the 40C's when I was in that area in around March, though locals were telling me the heat was about a month early --, I'd often just not feel like eating yes. Like I said, I tried to make it a point to at least get plenty of little snacks in, there's usually so much interesting stuff available all around, great little bags of spicy nibbly things as well and indeed of course nuts and the likes, nice fruit juices and so on, in cartons as well if you don't trust the real thing, and then try to make it a point to indeed at least get in a half meal now & then. Some restaurants even do "half plates," so half portions of dishes, which would be helpful here; where available, it's also a good way to have a more varied menu on the table all by your lonesome, btw, so as Indian food really calls for, with several dishes accompanying one another. Otherwise, just leave the rest standing, seems so wasteful and certainly in this country with plenty of poverty around, but hey, it's your health you're looking after here.

Well. Wish you a speedy recovery, and don't spend more time in uncomfortable web cafes than you feel like, on the other hand, keep us posted how it goes when you can, and certainly if anything is up or it doesn't improve, there'll be members here to respond to you.

Cheers for now, and happy & safe trails ahead

ps

John, I had been thinking certainly if you have any recurrent symptoms, or perhaps just as a general precaution so whether you do or not, it could be an idea to once you're back home again, have some stool tests and a general check-up, just to make sure you're not carrying something like that, after all. If you do, ask your doc about any incubation periods, too, so whether it would be advised to run a follow-up check later. Tropical travel health center or doctor specializing in the same would be good, your own can no doubt refer you if necessary.

I take it some people do so by default after any tropical visits; I personally don't, but certainly would if I had the slightest suspicion I might be carrying something, and have once at least made some enquiries to that effect.

Well, just a thought. Happy & safe trails, again!

@machadinha, yes i think thats wise advice.

I will talk to my doctor when i go home.

I notice is your account is closed, i hope you have not left IM.