Best Urologists in Bengaluru, India

Urology covers the kidneys, ureters, bladder, prostate and urethra, along with the male reproductive organs. Below is what that means in practice in Bengaluru, and what to ask about each.

1. Where the Hospitals Are

They are spread widely rather than concentrated, which makes the choice of where to stay more consequential here than elsewhere:

• Bannerghatta Road and the southern stretch

• Old Airport Road and Domlur, towards the centre

• Whitefield, well out to the east

• Hebbal and Yeshwanthpur to the north

• Jayanagar and JP Nagar in the south

Whitefield and Bannerghatta Road are close to an hour apart in ordinary traffic. Find out exactly which one your hospital is on before booking anything, and stay within a short drive of it.

2. Getting Around and the Airport

Kempegowda International sits far to the north of the city, and almost all the hospitals are central, southern or eastern. Expect the transfer to take well over an hour, sometimes closer to two, and considerably longer in the evening peak.

Inside the city, plan on every journey taking longer than an app predicts. Book appointments for mid-morning or early afternoon where you have the choice, and avoid committing to two appointments in different districts on the same day.

3. Stone Disease

This is a large share of routine work here, and the endourology units are busy. Most stones are treated without open surgery, and the choice between shock waves from outside the body, a telescope passed up the urinary tract, and a small tract made directly into the kidney turns on the size and hardness of the stone and the shape of your kidney.

Stones sitting in the bladder are a separate problem with a separate fix, usually removing a bladder stone through the urethra. In men they frequently point to an obstruction further down that needs treating in its own right.

4. The Prostate

An enlarged prostate is not cancer, though the symptoms overlap enough that assessment has to begin with examination and tests. When medication stops being enough, surgery is usually the resection known as TURP, or one of several laser alternatives.

Where the question is cancer rather than obstruction, the answer comes from sampling prostate tissue and not from a PSA figure on its own. A raised PSA has several explanations and most of them are not cancer.

Where prostate cancer is confirmed and surgery is the right treatment, robot-assisted prostatectomy is the usual approach at the larger centres here. The robot is a tool and not a result. Ask what your surgeon's own outcomes look like, and what the alternatives to operating are.

5. Reconstructive Urology

This is where Bengaluru's subspecialists earn their keep. Narrowing of the urethra after injury, infection or previous instrumentation is treated by repairing the narrowed urethra, and results depend more on how much of this specific work a surgeon does than on almost anything else.

Ask how many they perform in a year. If you have already had one failed attempt elsewhere, say so at the first consultation. A second repair is a different operation from a first.

6. Male Fertility and Sexual Health

The specialty also covers male fertility, erectile dysfunction, Peyronie's disease and penile reconstruction. These are ordinary medical problems with established treatments and nothing to feel awkward about raising.

Go to someone who does this work regularly. This corner of the field attracts a lot of unregulated advertising and treatments that promise more than they deliver.

7. Paediatric Urology

This is a separate practice with separate training. Conditions such as an undescended testicle carry a timing element, so ask about surgery to bring down an undescended testicle early rather than waiting to see what happens.

An adult urologist, however senior, is not the right surgeon for a child. Say at the outset that the patient is a child, so you are sent to the right clinic from the beginning.

Comparing Across India

If you would rather look nationally before settling on a city, start from urologists across the whole of India and come back to the city pages once you know which subspecialty you need.

Reviewed by Abdul Azeem, MA (Public Health specialisation)