What do I do if I get ill in Hurghada?

For anything ordinary, start at a pharmacy — they are everywhere, open late, and the pharmacist expects to be consulted rather than merely handed a prescription. If it needs a doctor, reception will call the hotel doctor, who comes to the room and is a private, paid service. Anything needing X-ray, stitches or a drip goes to a private clinic, which is where insurers expect visitors to go. Anything time-critical is an ambulance, and those numbers are on the emergency contacts page.

Will a clinic ask me to pay before treating me?

Often, yes, including when you have valid insurance — payment or a card guarantee up front is normal practice at a private clinic here and is not a sign your insurer has refused anything. Whether your policy pays the clinic directly or reimburses you afterwards is worth settling in writing before you travel, because it changes the conversation considerably at four in the morning. Keep the report, the itemised receipt and the discharge note: they are far harder to obtain once you have flown home.

Are Egyptian pharmacies good, and what can they actually give me?

They are genuinely good and they are the first line of care here rather than the last. A pharmacist is a trained professional who expects to be consulted, and a range of things that are prescription-only in northern Europe are available over the counter. What that means for the commonest complaint — an upset stomach — including what is in the box you will be handed and what European regulators have said about it, is set out on the stomach-upsets page rather than here.

Do I need vaccinations for Egypt?

No vaccination is required for entry from most countries, but what is sensible depends on your own history, your health and where in the country you are going. That is a conversation for a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you fly rather than for a guide page — and the lead time matters, because some courses need more than one dose.

Seeing a doctor, and what a pharmacy can do

Better set up for visitors than most people expect, and in a different order: the pharmacy is the front door, the doctor comes to you, and the private clinic — not the public hospital — is where a visitor usually ends up.

Health care on this coast is better set up for visitors than most people expect, and it runs in a different order from the one you are used to. At home you start with a GP and a pharmacist sells you what the doctor decided. Here the pharmacy is the front door and a genuinely knowledgeable one, the doctor comes to you rather than you to them, and the place a visitor with insurance actually ends up is a private clinic rather than the public hospital. None of that is worse. It is just a different ladder, and people who climb it in the order they are used to lose most of a day and a great deal of anxiety arriving at the same place.

The ladder, in order

1
The pharmacy, which is the front door
What it is for: Egyptian pharmacies are everywhere, open late, and the pharmacist is a trained professional who expects to be consulted rather than merely handed a prescription. A great deal that would need a GP appointment at home is dealt with across the counter here in ten minutes, and much that is prescription-only in Europe is not here. For an ordinary upset stomach, a bite, a cut, a cold or something you left at home, this is the right first stop and not a lesser one.
When to go past it: Skip it for anything with a fever, anything getting worse rather than better, anything involving a head injury, chest pain, breathing, or a child who is very young or very unwell. The safety section keeps the specific list of what means a doctor rather than a counter.
2
The hotel doctor, who comes to you
What it is for: Almost every hotel above the most basic has a doctor on call, and they will come to the room. This is a private service and it is not free, but at two in the morning with a sick child it is the right call and the fastest one — you are not putting anybody in a taxi. Reception arranges it; you do not need to find anybody yourself. Ask for the report and the receipt before they leave, because that is the paperwork any claim rests on.
When to go past it: Skip it and go straight to a clinic for anything that plainly needs equipment — a suspected fracture, stitches, anything needing a scan or a drip. A doctor in a hotel room has a bag, not a department.
3
A private clinic, which is where most visitors end up
What it is for: The resort towns have private clinics and small private hospitals used to treating visitors, working in English and often in German and Russian, with X-ray, a laboratory and a ward. This is where an insurer expects you to go and where the hotel will send you. For anything beyond the doctor’s bag and short of an emergency, this is the level that matches the problem.
When to go past it: Skip the deliberation entirely for anything time-critical. An ambulance and the emergency numbers are on the practical page, and nobody has ever regretted calling too early.
4
A hyperbaric chamber, for one specific thing
What it is for: This coast is unusually well equipped for decompression illness, which is the one medical thing it is genuinely better set up for than most of Europe. Chambers sit along the coast and dive centres know exactly where the nearest one is — which is part of why the diving section treats a centre’s emergency plan as one of the things worth checking before you book.
When to go past it: Not a decision to make yourself. If a diver is unwell after a dive, the centre and the chamber make this call; the practical page has the numbers and the diving section explains the eighteen-hour flying rule that sits alongside it.
5
Cairo, or home
What it is for: Serious cases move — to Cairo, which has the country’s major hospitals, or home. This is what the medical evacuation and repatriation line on a travel policy is for, and it is the line most likely to have a limit low enough to matter.
When to go past it: Nothing to arrange in advance except the cover itself. The insurance page sets out the questions to put to an insurer in writing before you fly.

The desk, and who pays when

Being asked to pay up front is normal, not a refusal

Clinics here commonly ask for payment or a card guarantee before treating, including when you have valid insurance. It reads as hostile if you are used to a system where you hand over a card at the end or not at all. It is not: it is how a private clinic in a place with a lot of short-stay visitors protects itself. Pay if you must and reclaim.

Direct billing or reimbursement is a question to settle before you need it

Some insurers pay the clinic directly, some reimburse you afterwards, and which one yours does changes the conversation at four in the morning considerably. It is one of the questions the insurance page recommends putting to an insurer in writing, and it takes two minutes at home and an hour at a desk.

Call the insurer before treatment where you possibly can

Most policies require notification and some require authorisation before non-emergency treatment. In a real emergency, get the treatment — but somebody in your party should be on the phone to the insurer while it happens rather than afterwards.

Collect the paperwork at the time, because it is much harder later

The doctor’s report, the discharge note, the prescription, the itemised receipt, the taxi. Egyptian clinics produce documentation when you ask on the day; from another country, weeks later, in another language, it is a different task. This is the single most useful thing you can do at the desk.

What differs from home

A pharmacist here does more than one at home

Consulting a pharmacist is normal rather than a fallback, and the counter handles a range of things that would be a GP appointment in northern Europe. Which specific products you will be offered for the commonest complaint — an upset stomach — is set out on the stomach page, with what is actually in them and where European regulators have landed. That belongs there rather than here.

Language is rarely the problem it is feared to be

Clinics and hotel doctors in the resort towns work in English as a matter of routine, and German and Russian are common. Away from the tourist towns that thins out quickly, which is one more reason a remote stay is a different proposition from a resort one.

Bring your own regular medication, properly

Egyptian pharmacies are excellent for anything ordinary; the thing they cannot solve is your own long-term prescription. It should travel in its original packaging with the prescription, because some drugs that are unremarkable in Europe are controlled here — which the packing page covers as the one item on it with legal weight rather than convenience.

Vaccinations are a conversation to have at home, six weeks out

No vaccination is required for entry from most countries, but what is sensible depends on your history, your health and where you are going. That is a travel clinic six to eight weeks before flying, not a guide page — the lead time matters because some courses need more than one dose.

Most of what sends visitors to a pharmacy is not exotic

The commonest medical event on this coast is an upset stomach, and the second is too much sun. Both have their own pages here, both are largely preventable, and neither is a reason to travel anxious. The genuinely unusual risks on this coast are covered in the safety ranking, in the order they actually happen.

Ambulance, police and hyperbaric numbers are on the emergency contacts page, which is maintained. They are deliberately not repeated here — a second copy is a copy that goes out of date.

Common questions

What do I do if I get ill in Hurghada?: For anything ordinary, start at a pharmacy — they are everywhere, open late, and the pharmacist expects to be consulted rather than merely handed a prescription. If it needs a doctor, reception will call the hotel doctor, who comes to the room and is a private, paid service. Anything needing X-ray, stitches or a drip goes to a private clinic, which is where insurers expect visitors to go. Anything time-critical is an ambulance, and those numbers are on the emergency contacts page.
Will a clinic ask me to pay before treating me?: Often, yes, including when you have valid insurance — payment or a card guarantee up front is normal practice at a private clinic here and is not a sign your insurer has refused anything. Whether your policy pays the clinic directly or reimburses you afterwards is worth settling in writing before you travel, because it changes the conversation considerably at four in the morning. Keep the report, the itemised receipt and the discharge note: they are far harder to obtain once you have flown home.
Are Egyptian pharmacies good, and what can they actually give me?: They are genuinely good and they are the first line of care here rather than the last. A pharmacist is a trained professional who expects to be consulted, and a range of things that are prescription-only in northern Europe are available over the counter. What that means for the commonest complaint — an upset stomach — including what is in the box you will be handed and what European regulators have said about it, is set out on the stomach-upsets page rather than here.
Do I need vaccinations for Egypt?: No vaccination is required for entry from most countries, but what is sensible depends on your own history, your health and where in the country you are going. That is a conversation for a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you fly rather than for a guide page — and the lead time matters, because some courses need more than one dose.

Checked 26 July 2026. Rules and prices change — we link official sources so you can confirm on the day. Something out of date? Tell us.