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Kuwait City


 Healthcare

Medicines, Hospitals


Hospital

Emergency room visits do cost money, unless of course, you're either a Kuwaiti, in which case it's free of charge or, you're insured privately. Life threatening injuries will be treated, regardless of one's ability to pay.

All three emergency services, fire, police and ambulance, can be reached inside Kuwait by calling 112 on landlines and cell phones.

Ambulance services exist, with trained medical staff onboard. Average response time, from the time they receive your call, is roughly eight minutes. However, due to heavy traffic and an absolute disregard by most drivers to yield when emergency vehicles are approaching, cuts into response times. If you need to get to a hospital quickly, the best and most reliable means of transportation is your own vehicle. Failing that, go by taxi.

Public Hospital in Kuwait

Private Hospital/Clinics in Kuwait

Pharmacy

Pharmacies are plentiful and are scattered throughout Kuwait. There may be several drugstores just outside your front door, or a few minutes' drive from your home. Lots of medicines are accessible from pharmacies without having to obtain a prescription from a doctor, including many that would normally require a prescription in most western and European countries. Then again, some medicines that can be easily purchased without prescription elsewhere require a prescription in Kuwait.

Local pharmacies carry a wide variety of non-medical items, including cosmetics for ladies and perfumes for both men and women, but those items do come at a cost. They are generally much more expensive to purchase. Common medicines, such as painkillers, cough syrup and eye drops, are widely available in supermarkets and large retail stores.

Most pharmacies open from 9.30am to 1pm and from 4.30 to 8.30pm, Saturdays to Thursdays. Many remain open all day, or even 24 hours. Many hospitals have a 24-hour pharmacy, where you can obtain prescription and non-prescription medicines.

Note that The Health Ministry sets all prices for medicines in Kuwait, whether prescription or non-prescription.

Below is a list of pharmacies by Governorate:

Capital

Hawalli

Salmiya

Jabryia

Ahmadi

For a complete list of pharmacies, visit Kuwait's E-Gov site.


26/05/2013

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