Health,  Hospital

My Experience in Columbia Asia Hospital

Its not my first time entering a hospital but definitely my first time admitting into hospital. Honestly, it never cross my mind that I will admit to hospital at this age…. That what life is right? Full of surprises and in this case bad news… If you want to know why I am admitted to hospital feel free to read this post. Today I will be sharing my experience staying in Columbia hospital in case you all want to know if you should pick columbia hospital the next time you need to do any scanning or if you require any treatment. Off course I certainly do not hope any of you needed this.

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I were first looking at which hospital is under my insurance panel and Ambank insurance has both hospital that is within vicinity of my home which is Pantai Medical Hospital. I first went to Pantai Hospital first as the MRI scanning were full in Columbia Hospital, but when I were at the Pantai Hospital the staff told me I have to be admitted in order to claim the mri scan under the hospital. So hence I then went through a long process to claim the insurance which I will not discuss this in details in this post. If anyone of you want to know the detail process and tips how to be able to claim your mri scan or other related treatment under your insurance do leave a comment down below I will write a separate blogpost for that.

Choosing Hospital

So after going through the long process I go with Columbia hospital because first the hospital look new and the colour theme look very cheerful too. Another reason is that the chiropractor I went said their MRI scan were the cheapest among the other hospital. I compared both Pantai & Columbia price and its true Columbia price is slightly cheaper.

Registration

When I first arrived to Hospital, the queue were quite long but the line move fast. When my turn is here, I told the staff my situation and they ask for my IC for registration purposes. Then they gave me a new Columbia Hospital’s identity card and also a bar code where they use it to scan your details. So, when you see any doctor or receive any treatment the details will be recorded in. The payment will be processed by scanning the barcode at the cashier too. Very effective system. So I were then redirected to Dr. Manmohan Singh, Orthopedic & Spine surgeon to diagnose my back problem.

Diagnosis by Dr Manmohan

I walk to counter A and wait for the nurse to call for my turn,. In few minutes I was called. Pretty fast. Dr Man did a few test and told me he suspect I have a slip disc but he needed me to go for a MRI scan to find out the real cause of my back pain to ensure is it a slipped disc not any tumour or cancer.

MRI Scan & X-Ray

The scan took about 40 minutes and its pretty comfortable lying in the machine. I am not allowed to do any big movement as it will affect the scan. So, all I do were lay straight with my hand on the side and I did fall asleep halfway. After the MRI scan I proceed with Xray to do a detailed scan of my bone. After the scan it were almost lunch time, so I went for lunch before going back to Dr Man.

Me in MRI Scan uniform

Lunch at Cafeteria

Honestly not really the lunch I like cause they serve Malay mixed rice alike food. Most are spicy type and only one vegetable and fish which is not. I took the Sweet & Sour Tilapia Fish with some vegetable and rice, it cost me RM12. Water is FOC. The fish taste pretty normal, not bad just not good either.

Admission to Hospital

So Dr Man check on my scan result and explain all the details to me. He told me that it is confirmed I have two slipped disc and I have to go through the physio therapy to help ease the pain. So, I went home after that due to some complication on the insurance claim. To cut the story short, I went back to see Dr Man again a few days later after I settle the complications. He suggest me to admit into the hospital so he can put me under his monitoring as well some medication and physio therapy to release my severe back pain. However the room were full so he ask me to come back the next morning for admission. So I went home and pack my stuff and went to hospital again at 8 am the next day as instructed by the nurse.

When I arrived, I gave the admission letter the nurse gave me the day before and then I was transferred to the cashier to pay for depit even though all my hospital expenses will be covered by my Insurance company. After making the payment, the staff pass me a travel bag contain two towel (small handkerchief size and face towel size),  shampoo, shower gel and toothbrush & toothpaste in it. So, I strongly recommend you to bring your own towel as that face towel will only able to wipe probably my chest.

 

Day Care Room

Then the staff told me that the room were still full, so they transferred me to day care room. In the room there probably around 20  chair where you can extend it so you can sleep with leg lay flat. In the room, its really freezing cold, please bring socks & jacket and wear long pants. While I was there, the staff constantly check on my condition. There’s a toilet and changing room attached to the room. In the hospital you can opt to wear their uniform or your own clothes. I guess if you are going to operation room then you need to change to their uniform. There sandwich and water available in the day care room in case if you are hungry or thirsty. The room is really bright do bring your eyemask too if you cant sleep with bright lighting. So let me list down the thing you need to bring when admitting into Columbia Hospital.

  • Bath Towel
  • Socks
  • Jacket
  • Eye Mask
  • Pyjamas

I did not have time for breakfast that day so i went to cafeteria for breakfast with really low expectation after my last visit. Surprisingly, they have some western breakfast and the look were good. Taste wise not very good. Egg was a little too salty.

I then went back to day care room to catch some nap. After an hour or so, the nurse came to me and told me they need to put on the IV drip on me so that they can inject medicine into my body. Honestly, the ivy drip is the most painful part of the entire thing. I thought Physio Therapy will be the most painful one but I am so wrong. With the IV drip its so hard to move my hand. I though I would do some work on my laptop in case I am bored but it was hard with the IV drip on. Even sleeping has to be adjusted to a position that it doesn’t cause that part of my arm feel painful. The nurse said she use the smallest needle size which is inteded for baby but still so painful.

My parent came to visit me during lunch time and brought lunch for me. YAY!!! I had my lunch at cafeteria with my family!! Finally some delicious food. Eating was hard because of the Ivy drip.

I chatted with the nurse, she said Columbia Hospital’s room is full all the time. Sometime, patient has to wait till 6pm before the room is available. In my case I got my room around 3pm.

The Double Ward Room

My insurance company cover up to a double room allocation where there two bed (two patient) in one room with a toilet attached. This how the room and bed look like.

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My bed were the one near the door and I was unfortunate because my neighbour love to talk. She doesn’t feel tired at all and she got a bunch of visitor visiting her as soon as visiting hour is open. The visiting hour is from 9 am to 9.30 pm. Its hard for me to fall asleep felt like Im in a flight but worse because the patient beside and her visitor talk nonstop.

The bed feel comfortable and room temperature were just right. Not overly cold. The bath room is huge but I don’t quite like the feeling. I don’t know why but I don’t feel like showering there at all.

The Meal in Ward

After the cafeteria experience I really don’t expect the ward food to be good! When you least expect, things turns out good. They have a pretty intesive menu like Local, Chinese or International to choose from. I mostly choose international.

The first meal were dinner, spaghetti with grilled fish and vegetable. The egg plant in tomato sauce is my fav!

Then for breakfast the omelette taste better than the one in cafeteria.

For lunch, I had the same grilled fish but with creamy sauce and rice. Overall I am really enjoying the meal in the ward. I expect it to be far worst considering my experience in cafeteria and from what I see in TV.

For tea time, they gave me a cinamon roll with banana i think. Its yummy not too sweet just how I like it.

 

Overall even though all food is prepared in low salt and sugar level they taste pretty tasty. Maybe I dont cook very salty food at home too so it was good for me. However one thing though the chocolate drink they provide doesn’t taste good for me. So I just drank water most of the time.

Pain Killer & Physio Theraphy

The doctor inject some pain killer for and boy it was aweful feeling. I feel dizzy and numb but in a way I feel weak and for some reason this feel good because I can have a legit reason to rest and get off work fully. Well not fully my work WhatApps notification still coming in and work still have to be done……. I regret for not switching off my phone…

For the first few round of physio therapy they mainly use machine to reduce my pain. Once my pain is reduced then they will teach me some strecthing to strengthen my back so the back won’t feel so painful.

Overall Experience

I admitted to the hospital for 2D1N and overall its a really good experience. The parking were RM 5 per entry for patient. The staff were really friendly too. They come to check on you from time to time. They came to check on my blood pressure pretty often at time i wish I could just sleep. My total bill came up to a total of RM3k++ . This does not include the MRI which cause around RM 1k++. The bill is quite detailed with full breakdown up to the quantity of cotton used were calculated too.

I guest I better end this lengthy post. I never thought this post can be this lengthy. Thank your for reading my post and if you are admitting into hospital soon I wish for fast recovery to you k? Bye….

3 Comments

  • Natalie

    Hi, I have just read your blog and faced the same situation as you. May I know how you claim for the MRI scan and other related treatment from insurance. Appreciate if you could share with me.

  • Natalie

    hi, Cindy. I just read your blog and encounter the likely situation as you. Appreciate if you could share how you claim the fee of MRI scan and related treatment? Thanks.

    • Cindy Tong

      you will first have to go to hospital that is under your insurance panel. Then you need to see a GP. If your case require admission then mri and other treatment is claimable. If your case does not require admission then you will not be able to claim MRI as it is a form of examination not part of the treatment process. You can check with your insurance agent for full information.

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