If you need medical care

Last updated: 8/2-2023

There are many different types of clinics where you can get medical care. This page has information to help you find the right clinic for your condition or needs.

Important points if you need to seek medical care

You must have your identity card with you when you seek medical care or get a prescription filled.

If you are an asylum seeker in Sweden you have to show your Asylum seeker (LMA) card when you seek medical care. You also need to show your LMA card when you get a prescription for medicine filled in a pharmacy. If you have not yet been sent your LMA card, you have to show the receipt proving that you have applied for asylum.

All medical care staff in Sweden are bound by a confidentiality obligation. This means that they are not allowed to tell anyone else anything about you unless you have given them permission to do so. Interpreters working for the health and medical care services also have a confidentiality obligation, and staff in pharmacies are also bound by it.

If you don't speak Swedish that well, you are entitled to be helped by an interpreter when you meet medical care staff.

It is important that you understand what medical care staff are saying, and that they understand what you are saying. There are pictures you can use when meeting with medical care staff.

Finding the right medical care

Call 1177 Vårdguiden

If you are uncertain about whether to seek medical care, you can call 1177 Vårdguiden. The phone number is 1177. You will be connected to a nurse who can give you advice. The nurse can also give you information about where you should go for the right type of medical care. You can call 1177 at any time of the day or night. Some regions can provide advice in other languages than Swedish.

Contact a medical care centre

Usually you should contact a medical care centre first if you become ill or have some physical complaint. At the medical care centre they will be able to help you with most things. You can also contact a medical care centre if you feel mentally unwell. The medical care centre can help you get in touch with mental health clinics.

The 1177 Vårdguiden website has contact information and opening times for medical care centres all over the country. It also has information about other types of clinics and specialist care.

Go to an Akutmottagning (Accident & Emergency Unit)

If you or someone else is very seriously ill or injured, you must seek help at an Akutmottagning, or Akuten for short. Hospitals have Akutmottagningar and these are open around the clock, every day of the year.

If you or someone else is feeling very mentally unwell and needs help quickly, you should go to an Akutmottagning for mental illness (psykiatrisk akutmottagning).

Call the 112 emergency number

In an emergency situation where someone's life is in danger, call 112. You will quickly be given help and an ambulance will be sent to take the person to Akutmottagningen. The 112 emergency number operators will put you in contact with the ambulance service, the police and the fire service.