Surgery In Delhi, India
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 5:27 am
I live in Hanoi, Vietnam. I teach at Hanoi Medical University. I’m a native Californian, having most recently lived in Washington State.
I had the surgery on September 2, 2016 at the University of Washington Men's Center - Dr. Thomas Walsh doing the procedure. I paid $16,000 in cash (plus a few hundred for lab work) to have an AMS 700 CX 18 +4cm with Conceal Reservoir with 85mL device implanted. This was to replace an AMS 700 CX 15 CM with +6cm RTEs (rear tip extenders) that I had for ten successful years. I had surgery at around 8:00 am and was home by early afternoon the same day. The next morning I was on a flight back to Hanoi.
After twenty months, the device failed. The pump would expand the implant to just about half erect, and then the bulb collapsed. When it failed, I contacted Dr. Walsh and asked what he would recommend. Prior to doing the surgery Dr. Walsh understood that I lived in Vietnam. His response? Come into the office and we’ll take a look. Subsequently there was little contact with him as he skirted attempts at email.
I sent a message to Marie Porter, the accounts manager at the University of Washington, to inquire if Dr. Walsh would re-do the surgery. She refused to respond. The prospect of returning to the U.S. was not very attractive as an option since I would have to put my life in Hanoi on hold for a couple of weeks. Additionally, I didn’t want to repeat the flight that I had after the surgery on September 2. Needless to say, it was quite uncomfortable.
I reached out to Dr. Raman Tanwar in Delhi to inquire about doing the surgery. I explained that the device was under warranty and asked if he could look into getting a replacement device and do the surgery. He recently wrote that dealing with having the warranty honored in India was problematic, and that he was not willing to deal with the complexity of it. He came to this conclusion after handing the problem over to his staff. He later learned that getting a replacement in India was not as problematic as he was told. On hearing this, he sent me the following email:
______________________________________________________________________________
Dear Seemant, Kundan and Shankar,
I am quiet disappointed with your lack of commitment guys to help Dr. David despite my earnest efforts. I will take it to higher authorities so that such things don't happen in the future. Please also let Mr. Das know about this as he is also responsible.
Kind Regards,
Dr. Raman Tanwar
MBBS, MS, FMAS, MCh Urology
______________________________________________________________________________
In the meantime I contacted Boston Scientific, the producer of the AMS device. I found Jamie Matson, RN, Patient Service Specialist, Boston Scientific Urology and Pelvic Health. Should you ever need assistance with matters dealing with the AMS devices, this is the person you need to START with.
Here is her contact information:
jamie.matson@bsci.com
952-930-6261(office) 303-591-8599(cell)
10700 Bren Rd W Minnetonka, MN
www.bostonscientific.com
Given a window of 5 days, she was able to communicate with Boston Scientific representatives in Delhi, and by the time I had my surgery on the 14th of July, the replacement device was at the hospital.
Because Dr. Raman was not able to resolve the replacement, I reached out to Dr. Gautam Banga at SCI International Hospital. He had a member of his staff, Shivani Tyagi, see what she could do and he hooked her up with Jamie, and between the two of them, they got the replacement device issue taken care of. Normally the surgery would have cost $13,600 but I didn’t have to pay for the device, so it was much less.
Dr. Gautam is great. He’s a well-respected Urologist, and does a lot in the way of teaching others learn some of the finer techniques of penile implant surgery. Shivani is one of his managers. She arranged a hotel for me, one across the street from the hospital (which I will discuss in a minute), arranged an airport pick-up (which was free), was a mediator as her English is great, showed up in my room every time I had a question or need, arranged a flight back to the airport, and made sure I had all medications in a bag before I left. She is the FIRST person you need to ask to speak with if you choose to visit SCI.
The hotel (JHT Hotels) was ok – not great. The room was nice, air conditioned, TV, comfortable clean bed, Internet access, semi-ok bathroom – shower, commode, sink all in good working order. They offer breakfast at a reasonable rate. Food isn’t wonderful, but it’s ok. The ONLY problem I had was there was NO HOT WATER. I hate taking cold showers. I spoke with the manager and he apologized and said he would fix the problem. The second morning of my stay I got into the shower expecting hot water and, again, it was cold. Bottom line, if you don’t mind cold showers this is a comfortable place to stay. Otherwise, find someplace else.
Note: Just a short distance behind SCI is a shopping complex. There is a Starbucks and Subway sandwich place there – all that I needed.
I am writing another report entitled Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the AMS Penile Device and I will post it later. I’ll include pics of the packaging, cost of the device, etc.
Dr. David A. Dutcher
I had the surgery on September 2, 2016 at the University of Washington Men's Center - Dr. Thomas Walsh doing the procedure. I paid $16,000 in cash (plus a few hundred for lab work) to have an AMS 700 CX 18 +4cm with Conceal Reservoir with 85mL device implanted. This was to replace an AMS 700 CX 15 CM with +6cm RTEs (rear tip extenders) that I had for ten successful years. I had surgery at around 8:00 am and was home by early afternoon the same day. The next morning I was on a flight back to Hanoi.
After twenty months, the device failed. The pump would expand the implant to just about half erect, and then the bulb collapsed. When it failed, I contacted Dr. Walsh and asked what he would recommend. Prior to doing the surgery Dr. Walsh understood that I lived in Vietnam. His response? Come into the office and we’ll take a look. Subsequently there was little contact with him as he skirted attempts at email.
I sent a message to Marie Porter, the accounts manager at the University of Washington, to inquire if Dr. Walsh would re-do the surgery. She refused to respond. The prospect of returning to the U.S. was not very attractive as an option since I would have to put my life in Hanoi on hold for a couple of weeks. Additionally, I didn’t want to repeat the flight that I had after the surgery on September 2. Needless to say, it was quite uncomfortable.
I reached out to Dr. Raman Tanwar in Delhi to inquire about doing the surgery. I explained that the device was under warranty and asked if he could look into getting a replacement device and do the surgery. He recently wrote that dealing with having the warranty honored in India was problematic, and that he was not willing to deal with the complexity of it. He came to this conclusion after handing the problem over to his staff. He later learned that getting a replacement in India was not as problematic as he was told. On hearing this, he sent me the following email:
______________________________________________________________________________
Dear Seemant, Kundan and Shankar,
I am quiet disappointed with your lack of commitment guys to help Dr. David despite my earnest efforts. I will take it to higher authorities so that such things don't happen in the future. Please also let Mr. Das know about this as he is also responsible.
Kind Regards,
Dr. Raman Tanwar
MBBS, MS, FMAS, MCh Urology
______________________________________________________________________________
In the meantime I contacted Boston Scientific, the producer of the AMS device. I found Jamie Matson, RN, Patient Service Specialist, Boston Scientific Urology and Pelvic Health. Should you ever need assistance with matters dealing with the AMS devices, this is the person you need to START with.
Here is her contact information:
jamie.matson@bsci.com
952-930-6261(office) 303-591-8599(cell)
10700 Bren Rd W Minnetonka, MN
www.bostonscientific.com
Given a window of 5 days, she was able to communicate with Boston Scientific representatives in Delhi, and by the time I had my surgery on the 14th of July, the replacement device was at the hospital.
Because Dr. Raman was not able to resolve the replacement, I reached out to Dr. Gautam Banga at SCI International Hospital. He had a member of his staff, Shivani Tyagi, see what she could do and he hooked her up with Jamie, and between the two of them, they got the replacement device issue taken care of. Normally the surgery would have cost $13,600 but I didn’t have to pay for the device, so it was much less.
Dr. Gautam is great. He’s a well-respected Urologist, and does a lot in the way of teaching others learn some of the finer techniques of penile implant surgery. Shivani is one of his managers. She arranged a hotel for me, one across the street from the hospital (which I will discuss in a minute), arranged an airport pick-up (which was free), was a mediator as her English is great, showed up in my room every time I had a question or need, arranged a flight back to the airport, and made sure I had all medications in a bag before I left. She is the FIRST person you need to ask to speak with if you choose to visit SCI.
The hotel (JHT Hotels) was ok – not great. The room was nice, air conditioned, TV, comfortable clean bed, Internet access, semi-ok bathroom – shower, commode, sink all in good working order. They offer breakfast at a reasonable rate. Food isn’t wonderful, but it’s ok. The ONLY problem I had was there was NO HOT WATER. I hate taking cold showers. I spoke with the manager and he apologized and said he would fix the problem. The second morning of my stay I got into the shower expecting hot water and, again, it was cold. Bottom line, if you don’t mind cold showers this is a comfortable place to stay. Otherwise, find someplace else.
Note: Just a short distance behind SCI is a shopping complex. There is a Starbucks and Subway sandwich place there – all that I needed.
I am writing another report entitled Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the AMS Penile Device and I will post it later. I’ll include pics of the packaging, cost of the device, etc.
Dr. David A. Dutcher
