Frequently Asked Questions

For an outpatient consultation an appointment is strongly recommended, because it holds a slot for you and reduces waiting. Walk-in patients are also seen, subject to the consultant's availability in that session. No appointment is needed for the emergency department at any hour.

Describe the symptom to the appointment desk or the enquiry counter and let them route you. Being sent to the correct speciality the first time saves far more time than being seen slightly earlier by the wrong one. You can also submit the appointment form describing the problem, and the desk will call back with a recommendation.

Outpatient sessions differ by department and by consultant, and are revised periodically. Confirm the current session for the speciality you need with the appointment desk or the help desk before travelling, particularly if you are coming in from Guntakal, Kadiri, Tadipatri or across the Karnataka border.

Yes, subject to that consultant's session and availability. For a review visit, ask for the same consultant wherever possible so that the treatment thread is not broken. For a first visit, the department will allocate the consultant available in that session unless you request otherwise.

Call 108 for an ambulance. Ask to be brought to Sainath Institute of Medical Sciences on the Bellary–Uravakonda–Anantapur Highway Road, near Roots Public School. The emergency department is open at all hours.

Yes. Emergency patients are accepted without an appointment, without prior registration and without advance payment. The patient is stabilised first and the admission and billing formalities are completed afterwards by the attendant.

Chest pain or pressure, sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm or leg, difficulty speaking, severe breathlessness, uncontrolled bleeding, a seizure, sudden severe headache, loss of consciousness, a serious fall, a road accident, a burn, poisoning or a snake bite. Do not wait, do not drive around comparing hospitals, and do not join an outpatient queue with a patient in that condition.

No. Emergency patients are triaged by severity, so a patient who arrives later with a life-threatening condition will be seen first. This is a clinical judgement and it is how every emergency department is required to work. The triage nurse can tell you where a patient stands.

For time-critical conditions such as heart attack, stroke and major trauma, going first to a facility that cannot treat the condition wastes the hours that determine the outcome. Go directly to a hospital with emergency, imaging and intensive care capability, or call 108 and let the ambulance team decide.

The admission advice note from the consultant, the patient's photo identity, the hospital identification number, and the insurance or third-party administrator card if you intend to use cashless.

For a planned admission or procedure you should be given a written estimate based on the diagnosis, the planned procedure and the room category chosen. Ask what the estimate excludes — implants, blood products, reserve antibiotics and escalation to intensive care are the usual exclusions.

An estimate is a projection based on the expected clinical course. If the stay lengthens, the patient needs intensive care, an additional procedure becomes necessary or a high-cost medicine or implant is used, the bill rises. A material change should be explained to you before it is incurred; ask the treating team and the billing desk to keep you informed, and ask for interim bills during a long stay.

Generally one attendant may stay with a patient in a ward or room, and must carry the attendant pass issued at admission. Patients in intensive care do not have an attendant at the bedside; families wait outside and receive a daily update from the treating team.

Between the decision and the exit, the discharge summary has to be written and checked, medicines reconciled, pharmacy returns credited, last-day investigations posted, insurance approval closed and the bill settled. Insurance approval in particular is outside our control. Clearing interim bills early and returning unused medicines promptly does genuinely speed it up.

Most routine laboratory and imaging reports are issued the same day, while cultures, histopathology and certain specialised tests take longer because of the method itself. Ask at the collection counter for the expected time for your specific test, and note it.

Laboratory and radiology reports are issued digitally to the mobile number or email registered at the time of the visit, and can also be collected in physical form at the reports counter. Give a contact number that is actually reachable at registration, and update it at the counter with identity proof if it changes.

Yes. Apply through the medical records process with the patient's identification number, the approximate dates and proof of identity and authorisation. Recent reports are reissued more quickly than archived case sheets, which require file retrieval.

Only with a written authorisation signed by the patient, accompanied by the patient's identity proof and the relative's own identity proof. For a minor, a parent or legal guardian may apply. For a deceased patient, the legal heir may apply on proof of relationship.

A reproduction charge may apply depending on the document type and the number of pages. Confirm the current charge at the medical records counter when you submit the request, and keep the receipt and the acknowledgement reference.

Cashless facility is available with major insurers and third-party administrators, subject to your policy terms and to pre-authorisation being approved. Empanelment lists change, so confirm your specific insurer or administrator with the insurance desk before a planned admission.

Pre-authorisation is the insurer's approval of the proposed treatment and its estimated cost before it is provided. Start it at the insurance desk before or immediately at admission. It cannot be applied retrospectively to a bill already settled in cash, and in an emergency it is initiated as soon as the patient is stable.

Registration and documentation charges, attendant meals and personal comfort items, toiletries and similar non-medical consumables, the excess room rent where the room chosen exceeds the entitlement, any co-payment or deductible in the policy, conditions excluded by the policy, and treatment within the waiting period for a pre-existing disease.

The insurance desk can explain the reason recorded by the insurer and help you assemble the documents for a reconsideration or an appeal. The hospital cannot overturn an insurer's decision. If you remain dissatisfied, the insurer's grievance officer and thereafter the Insurance Ombudsman are the external routes available to you.