To see a doctor in Czechia, the first step is to register (registrace) with a general practitioner for adults — praktický lékař pro dospělé. Find a doctor who's taking new patients, bring your insurance card (kartička/průkaz pojištěnce) and ID, fill out a registration form — and from then on you can book appointments by phone or online. Registration itself is free.
Czech healthcare revolves around the praktický lékař (GP). This is your "first point of contact" doctor: they keep your medical file, write prescriptions and sick notes, and refer you to specialists or tests. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to register, what to bring, how to find a doctor who's still accepting patients, and where to go if you need help in the evening or on a weekend.
Before booking anything, it helps to understand who you should actually be contacting. The system has three levels, and mixing them up is a common mistake among newcomers.
Registering with a GP can only be done in person, at the practice (ordinace). Bring along:
Foreigners with permanent residence, those employed in Czechia, and holders of temporary protection status are all part of the public insurance system and get a pojištěnec card on the same terms as everyone else. If you have commercial (komerční) insurance, check in advance with both the doctor's office and your insurer which practices accept it.
You can only switch your registered GP once every three months (§ 11 of the Public Health Insurance Act) — keep this in mind if your first choice doesn't work out.
The hard part in Czechia isn't the registration itself — it's finding a GP with open capacity. On average, a single practice serves around 1,600–1,900 adult patients, and many are overloaded and have closed registration. Where to look:
If you genuinely can't find a doctor, your insurer is obligated to help — contact them in writing; they're required to ensure you have access to care.
A quick cheat sheet so you don't waste time at the wrong level:
| Situation | Where to go |
|---|---|
| Cold, blood pressure, prescription renewal, certificate, referral | Praktický lékař (during office hours) |
| A specific issue (skin, heart, joints) | Specialist — usually with a referral from your GP |
| Pregnancy, gynecology, dental care | Directly to the relevant specialist, no referral needed |
| Sudden deterioration in the evening, on a weekend or holiday, not life-threatening | Pohotovost (LPS/LSPP) |
| Life-threatening: chest pain, loss of consciousness, severe bleeding, stroke | Záchranná služba — 155 or 112 |
Once you're registered, you can book with your GP or a specialist in three ways: by phone through the practice, via online booking (eObjednání) on the clinic's website, or in person at the reception desk. Prescriptions in Czechia are electronic (eRecept): renewing regular medication can often be done by phone or through your insurer's app, without an in-person visit. Bring your pojištěnec card to appointments — without it, the visit may be billed as a paid service.
Routine appointments and preventive checkups (preventivní prohlídka, once every two years for adults) are covered by insurance and free of charge — the regulation fee for a standard doctor's visit in Czechia was abolished back in 2015. A fee only applies to pohotovost visits (see below).
Lékařská pohotovostní služba (LPS, also known as LSPP) is on-call care available outside regular practice hours, for conditions that come on suddenly but aren't life-threatening: high fever, acute pain, injury, or a flare-up of a chronic condition in the evening or on a weekend. A visit to pohotovost carries a regulation fee of 90 CZK (waived if the doctor admits you to hospital).
Pohotovost operating hours vary by city and facility — typically evenings, nights, and weekends. In Prague, adults and children are seen, for example, at Fakultní nemocnice Bulovka and Fakultní nemocnice Motol, but check current hours and the address on the hospital's website or in your insurer's directory before heading over — schedules do change.
Pohotovost is not the right option in a life-threatening emergency — call the emergency lines instead:
| Number | Service |
|---|---|
| 155 | Zdravotnická záchranná služba (ambulance) |
| 112 | Single European emergency number, with operators available in foreign languages |
| 150 | Fire brigade (hasiči) |
| 158 | Police |
If you need medication at night after a visit, check out our guide to 24-hour pharmacies in Prague.
Children are cared for by a separate specialist — praktický lékař pro děti a dorost (PLDD), a pediatric GP. Registration follows the same logic: find a doctor with open capacity, come in with your child's pojištěnec card and vaccination certificate, and register. There's a separate pediatric pohotovost for urgent children's care outside regular practice hours.
Registering with a doctor is one of the first things to do after moving to Czechia; see the full list of tasks in our checklist of first steps in Czechia. If your doctor needs a medical records extract from another country in a different language, you may need a certified (sworn) translation of documents. Looking for a Russian-speaking doctor or dentist? Check our directory of doctors and dentists, and for help during your appointment, see our interpreters.
Technically, you can see a doctor without registering, but without your own praktický lékař you effectively lose continuity of care, prescription renewals, and referrals. In practice, nearly everyone needs to register.
Registration and regular appointments during office hours are free — they're covered by public insurance. You'll only pay a fee (90 CZK) for a pohotovost visit outside regular hours.
In major cities there are doctors and clinics with English- or Russian-speaking staff (check the doctor directory). The emergency line 112 has operators who speak foreign languages. For a routine appointment, you can bring an interpreter along.
Contact your insurer — by law, they're required to ensure you have access to healthcare. Call their helpline (for VZP, it's 952 222 222) or submit a written request, and they'll find you a practice.
Not for a gynecologist or dentist — you can book directly with them. For most other specialists, a referral (doporučení) from your GP is usually required in practice; check the specific requirements with the practice when booking.
You can change your registered praktický lékař no more than once every three months. Specialists can be changed more freely, but switching too often disrupts continuity of care.
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