Comprehensive Health

What is included

Fourteen groups of tests, done on the day of your visit.

Three entries carry an asterisk on the hospital's own material: bone density, the stool test and the EEG. The asterisk is never explained, so ask at the desk whether those three are done for everyone before you assume they are yours.

• Heart: ECG, echocardiogram, cardiac stress test
• Cholesterol and iron: lipid profile, iron studies
• Infection and inflammation: high sensitivity CRP, ESR, hepatitis B (HBsAg) and hepatitis C tests
• Bones and joints: rheumatoid factor, bone mineral density (BMD)*
• Diabetes: HbA1c, fasting blood sugar, post-meal blood sugar
• Liver: ALP, AST, ALT, bilirubin, GGT
• Kidney: albumin, globulin, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, complete urine examination, uric acid, electrolytes
• Gut: faecal occult blood, stool test*, LDH
• Lungs: spirometry, lung volume testing (LVT), chest X-ray
• Brain: EEG*
• Hormones and vitamins: FSH, LH, TSH, T3, T4, vitamin B12, vitamin D, folic acid
• Eyes: sight test, slit lamp examination, fundus photography
• Cancer screening: PSA for men, CA-125 and a cervical smear (PAP) for women
• General: complete blood picture, absolute eosinophil count, blood group and Rh typing, peripheral smear, skin examination

The scans, and when they are done

None of the scans below is part of the routine round. Each is done only when a Virinchi consultant prescribes it, because of your medical or family history, your symptoms, an earlier report, or a result above that needs a closer look. When one is prescribed, there is nothing more to pay.

A scan therefore has to be asked for by a doctor and cannot increase your bill. If one is offered, ask what in your results led to it.

• Mammography, an X-ray of the breasts, where a breast symptom or your age and history call for it
• Whole-body MRI, which looks at bone and soft tissue across the body
• MR elastography, which measures how stiff the liver has become, used for suspected fatty liver, long alcohol use or chronic hepatitis
• Bone mineral density (DEXA) scan, for bone strength and osteoporosis
• Carotid ultrasound, which looks for narrowing in the neck arteries that feed the brain
• CT coronary angiography, which looks for narrowing and calcium in the heart arteries, prescribed on findings such as chest pain, sleep apnoea, long smoking history or a family history of heart attack
• Ultrasound of the abdomen and pelvis
• High resolution CT of the chest, for the lungs and airways
• Renal artery ultrasound, for the kidneys, ureters and bladder
• Colonoscopy, for bleeding, a long change in bowel habit or abdominal pain

How it differs from the shorter checks

The shorter packages are mostly blood and urine tests with an ECG, a chest X-ray and an abdominal ultrasound. This one keeps all of that and adds tests of how organs are working, not only of what is in the blood.

Whether you need all of it depends on your age, your family history and what your last set of results looked like. The hospital's own guidance for a health check is that the tests should be chosen for your profile and history, and that a physician should interpret them and guide you. If you are not sure this is the right check for you, ask for that conversation before you pay for it.

• Echocardiogram and cardiac stress test, rather than an ECG alone
• Spirometry and lung volume testing
• EEG
• Eye examination with slit lamp and fundus photography
• Bone mineral density
• Hormone and vitamin panel
• Cancer screening markers and a cervical smear
• Stool tests, and hepatitis B and C
• Skin examination
• The ten scans above, added at no extra charge when they are indicated
• Twelve months to take any test you could not take on the day
• Consultations to go through the results, in person or by video

Before you come

The package includes a fasting blood sugar and a lipid profile, so you will be asked to come without eating. Confirm how many hours when you book, and ask for the earliest appointment of the day. Food and a drink are given to you once the blood has been drawn.

Do not stop a prescribed medicine to prepare for a test unless the doctor who prescribed it has told you to. If you are diabetic and have been asked to fast, say so before the sample is taken.

Bring any past reports and earlier scans. They are what turn a set of numbers into a trend.

• Tell the radiology staff or the guest relation executive if you have any implant
• Tell them if you have ever reacted to the contrast used in a CT or MRI scan
• Tell them if you have had a CT scan in the last three months
• Say so if you find enclosed spaces or loud noise difficult, so the MRI can be explained to you first

On the day

The tests are done on the day of your visit, in one building, so there is no walking between blocks. Giving blood and the other samples takes a few minutes. An ultrasound is usually about 30 minutes. A CT coronary angiogram takes up to 30 minutes including preparation. Each MRI takes about an hour.

Busy periods add waiting. A guest relation executive books your ultrasound, CT and MRI slots rather than leaving you in the general queue. For a health check the hospital asks you to allow four to five hours for the tests and the consultation that follows.

The MRI is a 3 Tesla scanner and it is loud. If you are claustrophobic or cannot tolerate the noise, say so beforehand and the staff will talk you through it.

Your reports, and the consultation

Results are usually available within 24 hours, once a pathologist, radiologist or the relevant consultant has verified them. Nothing is released before it has been checked.

You can view and download them from the hospital web portal or the VHealth mobile app, and they stay there, so you can send them for a second opinion years later without hunting for paper.

A consultation to go through the results is included at no charge, in person or by video. Anything outside the normal range also gets a specialist consultation at no charge.

If something is found

Abnormal results are verified by senior physicians, and where treatment is needed it is followed by a group of specialists rather than one doctor. Tests are repeated at no charge when your treating doctor at Virinchi asks for the repeat during that treatment.

Treatment itself is not included. If you need an operation or a procedure, that becomes a hospital admission and is billed separately, through your insurance or whoever is paying.

One thing worth knowing before you start. A wide screen will sometimes find something that turns out to be harmless, and proving that takes more tests and more time. Ask the doctor what a finding means, how likely it is to matter, and what happens if it is watched rather than acted on.

Twelve months to use the tests

A test you do not use on the day is not lost. If you are too unwell to take one on the appointed day, or a test needs repeating later to see whether treatment has worked, you have twelve months to take it with nothing more to pay. You need a prescription for it.

This is the easiest part of the package to forget about. Write the date down.

Who can take it

Anyone aged 18 or over. Men and women both, with the cancer screening tests differing: PSA for men, a cervical smear and CA-125 for women.

The hospital's own advice on who should have a health check is everyone over 40, anyone with a family history of chronic or lifestyle disease, and anyone with risk factors such as diabetes or high blood pressure. If you are younger than that and healthy, ask which check fits you rather than starting with the largest one.

Paying for it

The price is not published here. Ring the hospital and ask for the current price before you plan around it.

The hospital has offered a three-month instalment option, arranged through a guest relation executive with your PAN, a recent payslip and your EPFO Universal Access Number. Check it is still available when you book.

Health insurance normally pays for treatment rather than for screening, so ask your insurer or your employer directly whether a health check is reimbursed before you assume either way.