Emergency numbers and help in Cambodia

The numbers

The country code is +855, and a Cambodian mobile number written 012 xxx xxx is dialled +855 12 xxx xxx from abroad, dropping the leading zero.

How this really works

• Expect little or no English on 117, 118 and 119. If you are at a hotel, guesthouse or restaurant, get a member of staff to make the call - it will be faster and more accurate than trying to do it yourself.
• The public ambulance service is limited and slow, and in traffic it is slower still. For a serious but transportable emergency, a taxi or Grab straight to a private hospital is usually the quicker choice than waiting for 119. This is the opposite of the advice you would follow at home, and it is what residents actually do.
• Call your insurer's assistance line early, not after the fact. They authorise treatment, they know which hospitals they will pay, and they run the evacuation if it comes to that.

Where to go

• Phnom Penh: Royal Phnom Penh Hospital and Calmette Hospital; Institut Pasteur du Cambodge on Monivong Boulevard for rabies and vaccines.
• Siem Reap: Royal Angkor International Hospital.

If things go wrong

• Lost or stolen passport: get a police report first - your embassy and your insurer will both want it - then contact your embassy in Phnom Penh. Most are there; Siem Reap has almost none.
• Keep a photo of your passport data page and your visa in your phone and in your email. It turns a week-long problem into a two-day one.
• Report a crime to the tourist police rather than a local station where you can. They handle foreign visitors and are more likely to have English.
• Trouble with the police is best handled calmly and politely. Fines are sometimes negotiated on the spot; arguing about the principle does not go well.