If Something Goes Wrong
Seeing a Doctor
Which door to walk through, what it costs a visitor, and how to be understood.
The short answer
For anything that isn't an emergency, walk into a small neighbourhood clinic — 의원 (*ui-won*). No appointment, no referral. You hand over your passport, wait a short while, see a doctor, and take the prescription to the pharmacy next door.
Clinic, hospital, or emergency room
| Where | For what |
|---|---|
| 의원 — clinic | One or two doctors, one speciality, on a shopping street or above a shop. This is where a Korean would go with a fever, a rash, or a stomach that won't settle. Fast and cheap. |
| 병원 / 종합병원 — hospital | Bigger, more departments, more waiting. For things a clinic sends onward, or when you need a scan. |
| 응급실 — emergency room | Open all night and priced accordingly. For bleeding, breathing, chest pain, a bad fall — not for a cold at 10pm. |
Clinics are specialised, and the sign says which: 내과 internal medicine (fevers, stomachs, colds), 이비인후과 ear-nose-throat, 피부과 skin, 정형외과 bones and joints, 치과 dental, 안과 eyes. When in doubt, 내과 is the general one.
What it costs
Korea's national insurance doesn't cover a visitor, so you pay the uninsured rate. That still surprises people in the good direction: an ordinary clinic visit is typically a modest amount, and the medicine after it is usually less than the visit. An emergency room is a different order of money, and a hospital stay is a different order again.
Pay on the way out, by card. Keep every receipt and the itemised statement — that is what your travel insurer will want, and asking for it later from another country is much harder than asking at the desk now.
Making yourself understood
- Write your symptoms, when they started, and any medication or allergies into a translation app before you go in. You will be asked all of it, and composing it in a waiting room is harder.
- Doctors usually read English better than they speak it. Showing a written line often works when speaking doesn't.
- Larger hospitals in Seoul and Busan have international clinics with English-speaking staff. They cost more and keep office hours.
- 1330 can interpret by phone, in the room, in the middle of a conversation. Put the number in your phone now, not later.
What to bring
- Your passport — it is the identity document here, and the clinic will ask for it.
- A card. Cash is accepted but card is normal.
- The boxes of anything you already take, or photos of them.
- Your insurance policy number, if you have one.
If you are told to come back for results, ask exactly when and whether you have to come in person. Some results are read by phone, some are not, and a return trip across a city is worth avoiding.