If you fall ill, your first point of contact is your family doctor or dentist. Many doctors in Germany like to plan their consulting hours and prefer to arrange appointments in order to minimise waiting times. It is therefore advisable to call your chosen doctor beforehand.
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Your initial contact for accessing healthcare in Germany will usually be a General Practitioner (GP) or doctor (Allgemeinarzt or Hausarzt), who can assess your condition, provide treatment or refer you on to a specialist, if necessary.
Our TK-DoctorGuide will help you find the contact details of practitioners near to you. If you prefer to have someone else arrange an appointment for you, our TK-Appointment Service will be happy to be of assistance.
If you need to see a doctor in the evening, on weekends or public holidays, you should call the German medical on-call service on 116117. No dialling code is necessary from German landlines or mobile phones. The on-call doctors will attend to you. Alternatively, you can call our free, 24/7 hotline, TK-MediCall to discuss your medical issue with a specialist.
You should only go to the hospital’s emergency department or call the emergency number 112 if the situation is life-threatening or there is a risk of permanent injury.