🇵🇼 Palau Healthcare Guide
Healthcare centres on Belau National Hospital in Koror — solid for primary care and dive emergencies (it has a recompression chamber), with medevac to Manila or Hawaii for complex cases.
Quick facts
- Emergency number: 911
- Ambulance: 911
- Healthcare system: limited
- Average GP visit: $60 USD
- EHIC/GHIC accepted: No
- Language barrier: low
Healthcare overview
Palau's healthcare is delivered through Belau National Hospital in Koror (the capital) plus a network of community health centres on the outer states. The system is government-run, funded partly through a Compact of Free Association with the United States, and free or low-cost for citizens; visitors pay flat fees.
Belau National Hospital handles primary care, general surgery, maternity, and emergency stabilisation. It also operates one of the few hyperbaric (recompression) chambers in Micronesia, which makes Palau notably better-equipped for diving emergencies than other Pacific microstates. Complex cases are referred to Manila, Guam, or Hawaii.
Vaccinations
Recommended
- Routine vaccines up to date
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Japanese encephalitis (longer stays / rural travel)
- Rabies (rural / outdoor activity)
Prescriptions and pharmacies
Bring all prescription medications in original packaging with a doctor's letter listing each by INN (generic) name, dose, and indication. The hospital pharmacy stocks essentials but specialty drugs are frequently unavailable.
Foreign prescriptions are not directly fillable. US-format prescriptions are most familiar to local pharmacists. Plan resupply through medevac or shipment if you'll be staying long-term.
Brand names follow US conventions — Tylenol for paracetamol, Advil for ibuprofen. The hospital pharmacy in Koror is the main dispensing point; there are small private pharmacies in Koror's commercial area for OTC items.
If you're diving, carry your DAN insurance card and your dive computer download — the hospital will need both for any chamber treatment.