Former journalist and entrepreneur Roshan Abbas took to LinkedIn to share his traumatic experience of undergoing a bypass surgery, which started after his BP shot up, and he experienced mild chest pain. Although his ECG looked, what he called “normal”, the troponin test and angiography revealed that he had seven blockages ranging from 60 to 90 per cent. This meant that there was no other option for him except for surgery. For context, an ECG checks the activity of your heart, troponin is a blood test that shows the extent of damage your heart has suffered, and angiography is a scan that reveals blockages in the arteries.
Along with his upsetting experience, he also shared two key takeaways. He feels that the first one is the routine check-up, even if one is “fit”, and the second is to never accept the first diagnosis as final and always seek second opinions.
“On the 7th of July, I landed in the ER -BP at 190/110, mild chest pain, nothing dramatic. The ECG looked ‘normal’. I was about to go home. But one troponin test and angiography later, I had sobered up,” Abbas wrote on LinkedIn, before adding, “I had seven blockages, 60-90%. No stenting is possible. Surgery was non-negotiable.”
From doctor with golden hands to up to Rs 20 lakh for surgery
Since he had to undergo surgery, he consulted several hospitals and doctors, and each of them offered him “different packages”.
One of the packages quoted a price of Rs 30 lakh for the surgery, which he was told would be done by a doctor who is said to have “golden hands”.
Another was in the range of Rs 15-20 lakh. This one, per Abbas, was for a traditional open-heart surgery at a reputed private hospital. The recovery period for this one was three months.
Robotic, minimally invasive surgery in B’luru
The third was a “minimally invasive bypass” in Bengaluru, which he was able to land with the help of his friends and what he believes to be “sheer luck”.
He flew to Bengaluru to get it done, and the entire cost of the surgery, in addition to travel, hotel, and post-surgery care, was Rs 14.5 lakh. The 54-year-old lives in Mumbai.
“I flew to Bangalore, met Dr Adil Sadiq at Sakra World Hospital, and had the surgery done for 11.5 lakh. This was with me opting for a single suite, including travel, hotel, and post-op care, my total cost was under 14.5 lakhs,” he mentioned in his LinkedIn post.
What’s more? He was recovering in a hotel room on the sixth day of his surgery and not in a hospital bed. “And here’s the kicker: I was walking in 2 days, out of ICU in 3 days, discharged in 5, and recovering in a hotel, not a hospital bed by day 6.”
He didn’t end his post here. He also shared two key takeaways from his experience. The first one is the routine check-up, even if one is “fit” and has no major symptoms.
Second, never accept the first diagnosis as final and always seek second opinions. “I say this not as a patient, but as someone who’s been through the system and saw how opaque, commercial, and fear-driven it can be,” he added.
“Achcha karo, achcha hota hai [Do good and good will happen],” he ended his post with these words, before adding that he has earned “best set” of friends, who stand by him as “family” and are doers, not merely “talkers”. “The way they rallied around me was incredible, and also that karm [action(s)] is the most important thing,” he said.
