Patients not showing up for doctor appointments is a widespread phenomenon in Bangladesh. This can have dire consequences, especially due to the dearth of medical practitioners to address the health concerns of a growing population.
This No-Show policy has been put in place to ensure timely healthcare for everyone using the Sasthya Seba platform. In the Sasthya Seba context, Patient No-Show means a patient has failed to turned up on time for an appointment booked through Sasthyaseba.com or Sasthya Seba App without cancelling, rescheduling, or informing the practice/doctor in advance about the same.
Capturing patient-no-show from doctors/ clinics:
When a patient has failed to show up for a confirmed appointment (without having cancelled or rescheduled before 24 Hours of appointment time), doctors using Sasthya Seba software can mark the specific appointment as PNS on their desktop or the Sasthya Seba app.
PNS can be marked only within 5 days following the scheduled appointment.
Verifying PNS from patients
Whenever a doctor/clinic marks PNS, patients are sent an SMS and email to verify this claim and understand the reason behind the missed appointment.
Patients should respond within next 7 days after receiving the SMS/email, with the reason.
Actions taken on repeat patient no-show
Every PNS captured on Sasthya Seba is dealt with seriousness based on past patient behavior. This is done in order to ensure patients understand the importance of a doctor’s time and not misuse the convenience provided by Sasthya Seba. Our PNS Policy aims at minimizing instances of uninformed missed appointments, thereby making most of a doctor’s valuable time.
1. Repeat PNS actions are taken ONLY for patients who schedule appointments using ‘Book Appointment’ feature on Sasthya Seba.
2. At the third valid instance of PNS in last 6 months, patient’s account will be temporarily disabled from booking further online appointments on Sasthyaseba.com for next 2 months. However, the user can continue to call the clinic via Sasthyaseba.com to get an appointment.
3. Below are the valid cases of PNS:
a. Patient does not reply to the email/SMS with the reason in next 7 days from the date of receipt of such email/SMS communication
b. Patient responds to the email/SMS with below reasons:
i. Forgot the appointment
ii. Chose to visit another doctor/consulted online
iii. Busy with other work
iv. Other reasons (which Sasthya Seba at its discretion decides to be a reason for valid PNS)
4. Below are the invalid cases of PNS:
a. Patient says she/he got marked as PNS in spite of visiting the practice/doctor. This will be marked valid/invalid only after Sasthya Seba support team validates the authenticity of the claim.
b. Patient says she/he was extremely ill to visit the doctor (This will be a one-time consideration only)
5. If a patient has a history of repeat PNS, patient’s account can be temporarily disabled from booking further online appointments on Sasthyaseba.com, even on 1st or 2nd instance of PNS.
6. All refunds with respect to PNS for a pre-paid appointment shall be at the discretion of the doctor and Sasthya Seba has no role with respect to such refunds.
7. Sasthya Seba reserves the right to make the final decision in the case of a conflict. The total aggregate liability of Sasthya Seba with respect to any claims made herein shall be BDT 200.
8. Sasthya Seba reserve the right to modify the above mentioned terms from time to time.
9. Notwithstanding anything contained herein above, Patient shall indemnify, keep indemnified and hold harmless Sasthya Seba and our affiliates from any claim, action, demand, loss, damage, expenses and any other liabilities whatsoever which may arise due to their non-appearance.