Health Care System
In this part of the Prague for All website, we explain the basics of the Czech health care system, the importance of having your own general practicioner (and other doctors), health care for pregnant foreign nationals and the children of foreigners, as well as the rules of health insurance.
- Doctor’s appointments and preventive care
- Urgent medical care
- Emergency medical service – 112 telephone line
- Prague hospitals specialized in providing care to foreigners
- Health care for foreign pregnant women and newborns, insurance, preventive check-ups for children
Doctor’s appointments and preventive care
Everyone, including foreigners, should be registered with a GP. Register with a GP as soon as possible so that you know who to contact if you need medical help. In the Czech Republic, both men and women see a GP for regular preventive check-ups, which are covered by public health insurance.
If necessary, your GP will issue you a referral to a specialist (such as a neurologist, urologist, diabetologist, etc.). There are also specialists you can see without a referral from the GP (e.g. a dentist, gynaecologist, dermatologist, ENT specialist or ophthalmologist).
It is important to attend regular medical check-ups with specialists as well. You can schedule a dental check-up twice a year. Women should also visit their gynaecologist (usually once a year).
In the Czech Republic, a strong emphasis is placed on primary preventive health care, as it helps prevent acute health problems.
Children attend regular medical check-ups with a pediatrician. Adults are legally obliged to ensure that children receive regular medical care from a paediatrician. For more information, see Preventive Check-ups for Children.
To visit specialists, it is necessary to register with them. However, some specialists, such as dentists and gynaecologists, may not accept new patients due to full capacity.
If you need help finding a suitable doctor, use the social counselling services provided by integration centres and non-governmental non-profit organisations. If you have commercial health insurance, your insurance company can provide you with a list of contracted doctors.
Urgent Medical Care
If you have a sudden health issue that is not life-threatening, you may use urgent medical care.
These situations include upper and lower respiratory tract infections, fever, tonsillitis, urinary tract infections, etc.
Serious injuries and fractures are treated at hospital trauma emergency departments.
If you have dental problems, you do not have to wait in pain. You can seek dental emergency care for acute inflammation, wisdom tooth problems or complications following a previous dental procedure.
These emergency services are also availabe for pediatric patients.
Urgent care is available outside regular doctors’ office hours, i.e. in the evenings and at weekends. Most urgent care facilities are located in hospitals.
To access urgent care, you are required to pay a regulatory fee.
A list of Prague urgent care facilitiesis is available here.
Find out where the closest urgent care facility is, so that you can get yourself or your child there quickly in an emergency.
Emergency medical service – 112 telephone line
If you or someone else is in a serious, life-threatening emergency, it is necessary to call for help immediately.
This includes severe injuries, loss of consciousness, breathing difficulties, poisoning, allergic reactions, or other conditions that may result in long-term or permanent consequences or even sudden death.
It is a legal duty of everyone – both foreigners and Czech citizens – to help and call for assistance if someone’s life is in danger.
In life-threatening emergencies, call 112, the universal European emergency number for ambulance, fire brigade and police services. The number can be called from any mobile phone, even without a SIM card or prepaid credit. Operators speak foreign languages, and calls can be made even in areas where the signal is too weak for a standard call.
Avoid unnecessary calls to the emergency line. Calling the emergency number without a valid reason may result in a fine. We therefore recommend that you familiarise yourself with the difference between situations requiring urgent medical care and those requiring an emergency call in the Czech Republic, as this may differ significantly from the practice in your home country.
In life-threatening situations, everyone receives medical treatment even without health insurance; however, the costs are recovered retroactively.