Emergency numbers and healthcare for visitors

In a medical emergency

Dial 124. The national emergency medical service works 24 hours a day, every day, through 24 units: one in each municipality except Šavnik, which has no unit of its own and is served through the same number. The hospitals directory lists the emergency units with their phone numbers, the 16 hospitals and the health centres (dom zdravlja) of every town.

Is healthcare free for visitors? EHIC, GHIC and health agreements

Montenegro is not in the EU, so the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is not valid on its own. People insured in Austria exchange it for a certificate of entitlement at the local insurance institution; for other countries it depends on their agreement with Montenegro.

Nationals of countries with a social-security agreement get health care in the scope that agreement sets. Montenegro has such agreements with Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey and Albania. The agreements with Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey include urgent care during a temporary stay; the Swiss agreement covers pensions only. Germany is not on the list, so German insurers set their own rules for Montenegro: ask yours before travelling.

UK citizens: the GHIC and the certificate of entitlement

A reciprocal agreement gives British nationals free emergency treatment, on these terms:

• With a valid British passport and a GHIC, apply to the Montenegrin Health Insurance Fund for a certificate of entitlement, before treatment or as soon as possible after an urgent admission.
• The certificate gives free or subsidised care at state facilities.
• Without it you pay, and bills already paid cannot be reimbursed.
• A GHIC is not a substitute for travel insurance.

What treatment costs without cover

Without cover you pay the facility's own prices, and there is no single visitor tariff. The Health Insurance Fund's price lists are what the Fund pays providers, not what a visitor is charged.

Travel insurance: when it is required

Travel health insurance is a legal condition only for short-stay (C) visa applicants. Under Article 23 of the Law on Foreigners they prove insurance that covers repatriation for health reasons, urgent medical help, urgent hospital treatment or death during the stay, and under Article 27 a visa is refused without it. The law sets no such condition for visa-free visitors.

Take travel health insurance that includes repatriation; the GHIC does not replace it. Who needs a visa is on the visa page.

Tourist clinics in summer

In the tourist season the Tivat health centre at Istarska bb and its clinic in Radovići, on the Luštica peninsula, run a tourist clinic (turistička ambulanta) for visitors; the Tivat centre is open daily 07:00-21:00 and the Radovići clinic Monday to Saturday 07:00-21:00. In other towns the local health centre (dom zdravlja) is the place to ask about the season's clinic.

Hospitals and clinics

The Clinical Centre of Montenegro is at Ljubljanska bb in Podgorica: switchboard +382 20 412 412, Urgent Centre +382 20 412 267. Hospitals, health centres and private clinics in every town are in the hospitals directory.

Pharmacies open now

Two state Montefarm pharmacies are open 24 hours a day: Kruševac in Podgorica and Gojko Darić 1 in Nikšić. They are shown below and at the top of the pharmacies directory, which lists the Montefarm pharmacies, the private pharmacies under contract with the Health Insurance Fund and the other private pharmacies, with hours where known. There is no rota of on-duty pharmacies in the towns, so at night these two are the ones to count on; for medical help call 124.