Hospitals, Medical Services and Dental - System Overview:
The Swiss have no public, state-run health service, and also no reciprocal arrangements for healthcare with other countries, so you must pay upfront for all medical services – none of which comes cheap – and claim the costs back from your insurers later; make very sure you hang onto full doctors’ reports, prescription details and all receipts to back up your claim. A quick chat with a doctor is likely to cost in the order of CHF 45 - 50 inside normal business hours, perhaps double at other times; lengthier consultations and any kind of procedures or treatments will cost substantially more.
Virtually every hospital (Spital, hôpital, ospedale) has some kind of 24-hour service: ask tourist-office staff and/or your embassy for details of the nearest (or least expensive) one. Every district has a rota system whereby one local pharmacy (Apotheke, pharmacie, farmacia) stays open outside normal shopping hours: each pharmacy will have a sign in the window telling you where the nearest open one is. Local newspapers also have details.
Emergencies - Switzerland
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| Medical Service Contact Details and Locations: |
| > Bern |
| > Geneva |
| > Lausanne |
| > Lucern |
| > Zurich |