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Hospitalisation abroad

• Whom to inform if you are admitted to hospital
• What to do if you have no travel insurance
• What your family in the Netherlands can do
• What happens in the case of psychiatric patients
• Finally …

Suppose you are abroad, and you or your travelling companion are unexpectedly admitted to hospital. You will need to make all kinds of arrangements, but you won’t know where to begin. You can get assistance from the local Dutch embassy or consulate, whose staff will give you advice and information and, if necessary, refer you to support organisations.

Whom to inform if you are admitted to hospital

Embassy or consulate

If you or your travelling companion are admited to a hospital abroad, you should inform the Dutch embassy or consulate. News of your admission to hospital will also often reach the embassy from the local police. The embassy or consulate will then contact the hospital as soon as possible to assess the situation.

To take any further action, the embassy or consulate will require access to:

• your personal details;
• your travel insurance details (insurance company and policy number);
• the names and addresses of persons whom you would like to inform;
• the name of the doctor treating you and the hospital’s diagnosis;
• your medical history.

Family or friends

At your request, the embassy or consulate will ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague to inform your family or friends in the Netherlands about your admission to hospital.

Travel insurance emergency number
If you have taken out a travel insurance policy but are unable to phone the emergency support centre (alarmcentrale), the embassy or consulate will ensure that your insurance company is informed. This will also be done by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague.

The emergency support centre will assist you as far as possible. It will ensure that doctors’ and hospital bills are paid, and a doctor belonging to the emergency support centre will contact your doctor abroad in order to discuss your medical condition. The emergency support centre can also arrange for you to return to the Netherlands, if necessary accompanied by a doctor or nurse. Your emergency support centre can be reached 24 hours a day.

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What to do if you have no travel insurance

If you have no travel insurance, you will not be able to call on the assistance of a travel insurance emergency support centre (alarmcentrale). And you may experience major problems. In some countries, hospitals require a guarantee that treatment will be paid for before you are admitted. In such cases, you can ask the embassy or consulate to mediate.

Embassies and consulates cannot themselves give any guarantees. The consular officer will ask you whether you yourself can pay your hospital costs or whether your family or friends can make the money available.

The consular officer can also remind the local authorities that medical assistance may not be withheld pending certainty that it will be paid for. The consular officer can agree to mediate in obtaining payment for the hospital, but he cannot guarantee that payment will be made. Such a procedure naturally takes up more time than phoning a travel insurance company’s emergency support centre.

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What your family in the Netherlands can do

If you are admitted to hospital abroad, your family in the Netherlands will probably be very anxious. They will want to talk to a doctor as soon as possible to find out how you are, but language problems often hinder effective communication.

If you have travel insurance, your family should contact your insurance company’s emergency support centre (alarmcentrale), whose staff will keep them informed of developments.

If you have no travel insurance, your family can contact the Social Consular Affairs Division (DCZ/CM) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Tel.: +31 (0)70 348 4770. The Division’s staff are in close touch with embassies and consulates abroad and keep families constantly informed of the situation.

At your family’s request, your family doctor can pass on as much of your medical details as necessary to the doctor treating you abroad. This information may be important, especially if you have been treated in hospital before or if you take certain medicines.

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What happens in the case of psychiatric patients

For psychiatric patients admitted to a hospital or clinic abroad, it sometimes takes a long time before they can return to the Netherlands. The doctor treating them will require information about therapies or medicines they have been prescribed in the Netherlands.

No matter what the family may want, psychiatric patients cannot be repatriated against their will. The doctor treating them abroad will often draw up a declaration stating that repatriation will benefit their recovery. In addition, the patient himself will have to declare in writing that he consents to being repatriated to the Netherlands.

Another obstacle to rapid repatriation to the Netherlands is that many airline companies are unwilling to accept psychiatric patients unless they are accompanied by a doctor or nurse.

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Finally …

The interests of Dutch nationals are also often protected by honorary consuls, for whom their consular duties are a part-time activity. Most honorary consuls are not Dutch nationals, and many of them therefore do not speak Dutch. They have fewer powers than a professional consul at an embassy or consulate.

If there is no Dutch mission in the country you are in, you can contact the embassy or consulate of another member state of the European Union.

If you have any further questions, please contact:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Consular Affairs Department
Social Consular Affairs Division (DCZ/CM)
Postbus 20061
2500 EB Den Haag
Tel.: +31 (0)70 348 4770
Fax: +31 (0)70 348 5256

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