Health and emergencies

Consulting a doctor: general practitioners (GP) and specialists

If you get sick or have a health problem, the first point of reference in Germany is your designated general practitioner - GP ("Hausarzt" or "niedergelassener Arzt"). If you have a health insurance, you can go directly to a GP practice during their opening hours, or, if the problem is not urgent, make an appointment to avoid having to wait for a long time. In any case, it is advisable to call in advance and check whether the practice currently has free slots for new patients.

You can choose your GP from a list of general practitioners from Lower Saxony and Vechta, if you go to the website Arztauskunft Niedersachsen and you insert "Hausärzt-in" in the field "was" and your place of residence in the field "wo". Here, you also have the option to choose a doctor based on the foreign languages they speak (e.g. English).

If your problem necessitates the intervention of a specialist, the GP will write you a referral ("Überweisung") for an appointment at a specialist's practice ("Facharzt"). If you are already aware that your problem is specific and you will need to see a specialist anyway, you may also directly contact a specialist. For instance, if you have an eye-related problem, you can directly make an appointment with an oculist. 

If you have one or more chronic diseases, you should bring with you relevant documentation including diagnoses, blood tests, etc. (and have it translated into German if applicable). Once you arrive in Germany, you should make an appointment with a GP of your choice. They will prescribe you medication you might need and suggest the appropriate specialist to tackle your problems.

On-call doctors and emergency services

Sometimes we need the assistance of a doctor outside of the normal opening hours, for instance during the weekend, holidays or during the night. In this case, for health problems that normally would be treated by a GP, you should consult the on-call doctors ("Bereitschaftsdienst") (tel.: 116 117 without area code). In Vechta you can find the on-call doctors service at the St. Marienhospital in the Marienstraße 6 (49337 Vectha).

If the health problem or the accident are life-threatening and require urgent intervention, you should call the ER ("Notfälle- and Umfallrettungsdienst"), at the phone number 112 (without area code), or directly go to the emergency ward at the St. Marienhospital.

In Vechta there is one hospital: the St. Marienhospital in the Marienstraße 6.

You can find further information on emergency services in Vechta on this website: https://rathaus.vechta.de/Leben/Service/Gesundheit-Notdienste.aspx 

Pharmacies

If you need to buy medicines, in Germany you can only get them in a pharmacy. Pharmacies usually display a big red A sign. Like in most other countries, also in Germany there are medicines that you can get without a prescription ("Rezept") (e.g. paracetamol against fever, aspirin or ibuprofen against pain, etc.) and some where you will need a doctor's prescription (e.g. antibiotics). In the latter case, no exception will be made. Hence, if you need to take certain medications regularly, please bring enough medication for the first weeks in Germany, as it might take some time for you to make an appointment at a GP and to obtain the necessary prescriptions.

Pharmacies usually follow the normal opening hours and close around 6 or 6:30 pm during weekdays, a bit earlier on Saturdays and are closed on Sundays. Outside of the normal opening hours there are always on-call pharmacies that are open the whole night and weekend. In order to find the on-call pharmacy that is closest to you, you can go to the website Aponet.de and insert your postcode in the field "Notdienst" on the top of the page, on the right. Thereby you will get a list of the on-call pharmacies in your area.