Learn Arabic (Modern Standard): هل المريض هنا؟

You would add the Taa' Marboota (ة) to the end of the noun to make it feminine. So, "the female patient" becomes المريضة, and the whole sentence would be هل المريضة هنا؟

Does the word for "here" (هنا) change if we are talking about a female patient?

No, هنا is an adverb meaning "here" and it does not change based on gender. In Arabic, usually only nouns, adjectives, and verbs change to match masculine or feminine forms.

Why isn't there a separate word for "is" in the Arabic sentence?

In Arabic, simple "is" or "are" sentences in the present tense don't actually use a "to be" verb! You just put the subject (المريض, the patient) and the location (هنا, here) next to each other. The word هل at the beginning just turns that statement into a yes/no question.

Since the English translation starts with "Is", does the first word هل mean "is"?

Not exactly. هل doesn't translate to a specific verb like "is", "are", or "do". It is simply a question marker that you put at the very beginning of a sentence to turn a normal statement into a yes/no question.