Healthcare

Medical care in Nepal is better and cheaper than most arrivals expect, with one structural catch. Hospitals expect payment at the time of treatment and leave you to claim it back from your insurer - direct billing arrangements exist but are the exception. Budget for being out of pocket first, and keep every receipt, because the receipts are the claim.

For how the system is organised - public versus private, pharmacies, the registration file - healthcare and hospital covers it. This page covers what differs for a foreign resident or visitor.

Where foreigners actually go

Private hospitals, almost always, for the shorter waits, appointment system and English-speaking staff. Grande, Norvic, Mediciti and B&B in Kathmandu are the names that come up repeatedly. Public hospitals carry the deeper specialist capability for complex surgery and are correspondingly busy.

CIWEC deserves a separate mention. It has decades of experience in travel medicine, altitude illness and the infections visitors actually get, and is the default first stop for many foreign residents and travellers in Kathmandu. For anything that looks like a tropical or altitude problem, start there rather than at a general outpatient desk.

The hospital directory lists the institutions with their departments.

What it costs

Indicative private-sector figures in Nepali rupees for 2026:

	Typical
Outpatient consultation	800 – 2,500
Specialist consultation	1,500 – 4,000
Basic blood work	1,000 – 3,000
Scan or imaging	3,000 – 15,000
Overnight, private room	5,000 – 20,000

By the standards of Europe, North America or Australia these are very low. By local standards they are substantial, which is worth remembering in how you discuss cost with Nepali colleagues.

Insurance, and the gap

Whatever policy you hold, check three things before you need them:

• Does it pay the hospital directly, or do you claim? Assume you claim.
• Does it cover the altitude you will reach? Many policies cap at a height well below common trekking routes.
• Does it exclude motorcycling? A great many do, and a great many foreign residents ride scooters daily.

Insurance goes through the policy questions properly. Get the answers in writing from the insurer, not from a summary page.

Prescriptions and pharmacies

Pharmacies are everywhere, well stocked and inexpensive, and many medicines that need a prescription elsewhere are available over the counter. Generics, largely from India, cost a fraction of branded equivalents.

Bring a photograph of the packaging of anything you take regularly. Brand names differ between countries and the active ingredient is what a pharmacist here can match. For anything ongoing, get a local doctor's prescription rather than managing it from a counter conversation.

Before you come

A travel clinic consultation at home or at CIWEC on arrival is the sensible route for vaccinations and prophylaxis appropriate to where you will be and for how long. Requirements differ for a month in Kathmandu and a season in the Terai.

Carry a summary of your medical history, your blood group, and any allergy in writing. In an emergency this is worth more than it sounds - see emergency on the blood replacement system, which catches people without a local network.

Dentistry and elective care

Dental care in Kathmandu is good and inexpensive by international standards, and a number of foreign residents deliberately schedule work here rather than at home. The same is true of some elective procedures and eye care.

Choose on recommendation rather than price, and ask what is included before starting a course of treatment.

Mental health

Less discussed and worth saying plainly: relocation is hard, and the combination of a new country, a winter of poor air quality and a thin social network catches people out. Provision in Nepal is more limited than for physical health, but counsellors and psychiatrists practise in Kathmandu, several work in English, and international telehealth is an option many foreign residents use.

If you take medication for a mental health condition, bring a supply and the prescription, and establish continuity of supply early rather than when you are running low. Community covers the practical routes into a social circle, which does more than it sounds.

Serious cases

For conditions beyond what is available locally, patients are commonly referred to India or Thailand, both well established as destinations and reachable quickly. Medical evacuation cover is the insurance line that matters most for anyone staying long term - it is rarely needed and ruinous to fund privately.

Where this goes wrong

• Expecting the insurer to be billed directly. Almost always you pay first.
• Discovering an altitude cap after a trek has started. Check the number before booking.
• Riding a scooter on a policy that excludes motorcycling. Extremely common and entirely avoidable.
• Losing the hospital file. It is your record; without it tests are repeated at your cost.
• No evacuation cover on a long stay. The one line item you cannot self-fund.

Where to go next

Insurance is the companion page and the one to read before you need any of this. For trekking specifically, travel covers altitude and rescue cover.

Before you need it

Half an hour now saves a bad hour later.

Identify the hospital you would go to in an emergency, and the route, and confirm it has an emergency department that admits overnight. Save the numbers and keep a note of your blood group, allergies and regular medication. Confirm what your insurer expects - which facilities, whether they pay directly or reimburse, and the notification window.

And understand the blood replacement arrangement before an admission rather than during one: families are asked to arrange donors, and a foreign patient with no local network should say so immediately so the hospital works with the blood bank instead.