Not prone to medical problems, Praveena Devi got the shock of her life when she heard that she was suffering from severe heart complications and was in urgent need of surgery. We sat down with the 59 years old Fijian and discussed her early diagnosis and the eventual successful surgery received in India.
Tell me a little about yourself?
My name is Praveena Devi. I am 59 years old and I come from Fiji. I am a housewife and I live with husband and two children. During my free time, I enjoy reading books and cooking healthy food for my family.
What was your health condition?
About 2 years ago, I felt a strange pain in my throat. At first, I thought the pounding sensation was indigestion and drank some water. The pain went away, so I didn’t think much more about it. This happened again the very next day, and like before, I ignored the pain.
When it happened for the third straight day, my husband and I began to feel a bit worried. It was at this point that we decided to visit our family doctor.
How did you know about your heart condition?
At first, my husband and I were not sure, especially because I didn’t have any family history of heart conditions. We expected the systems to indicate something to do with indigestion. Our doctor wasn’t sure, and he advised me to get a stress test done.
I failed the stress test miserably. After failing the stress test, my doctor immediately scheduled an angiogram. The results showed that my LAD (left anterior descending) artery had a very long blockage. The attending cardiologist felt that it could not be treated effectively with angioplasty or a stent. It was then that I was told that I needed surgery.
How did that make you feel?
We were absolutely shocked to say the least. I really had no idea how heart surgery was done. My husband began asking close friends and family members about the procedure. We were completely clueless and nervous about what to do.
Why did you decide to travel to India?
All the people who we spoke to, advised us to travel to India as there are many best heart hospitals in India. However, not knowing anyone there, the idea at first seemed very far-fetched.
What made you change your mind?
My husband knew a friend who had traveled to India for a similar operation. That gentleman was all praise about the level of service he received and was overwhelmed with the final outcome of the procedure. He told us about medical facilitators and why we needn’t worry about traveling, even though we didn’t know anyone in India.
So how did you get in-touch with Vaidam?
My husband began searching for options online. We began by looking for relevant hospitals. However, our priority was to find a facilitator who could help us in our search. One of our search results yielded Vaidam.com. So we left a query, with our contact details on the website.
By the next day, we received a call from Dr Sapna Joseph who spoke to us very kindly and asked us to send her our medical reports for the earlier tests that we had done.
Why did you choose Batra Hospital?
We were given multiple options to choose from. I thought that many of those options were very good. Batra Hospital was among one of them, it fit our budget and by looking at the pictures, seemed very impressive.
How do you feel about your choice of hospital?
I must say we are very very happy. I was an operator on by Dr. S.K Pandey who was among top 10 cardiologist in India. In fact, I think this was the most satisfying part of our entire trip. Dr Pandey definitely gets an A from our side, for his dedication and care in explaining the entire procedure. After speaking to him, we felt really rest-assured and our apprehensions just flew out the window.
Would you recommend a medical trip to India to your friends or family members?
Most certainly!! I think a lot of people might be apprehensive about coming to India for medical treatment, but I can assure them that having Vaidam on your side can really make all the difference. We never had to worry about anything. Whenever we didn’t know about something or weren’t sure where to go or who to meet, Vaidam was right there to point us in the right direction.
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