Health, vaccinations and medical care in Sweden

Before you go

• No vaccinations are required. Be up to date with routine ones.
• Consider TBE (tick-borne encephalitis) vaccination if you will be hiking or camping in the south or along the coast between spring and autumn. It is endemic here.
• Bring an EHIC if you are from the EU or EEA, or a GHIC if from the UK. It gets you treated on the same terms as a Swede, paying the same patient fee.
• Everyone else needs travel insurance. Sweden's care is excellent and, without a card, billed in full.

Getting seen

• Call 1177 first. It is the national healthcare advice line, answers in English, and tells you where to go. Turning up at an emergency department for something minor wastes a day.
• A vardcentral is the local health centre and handles most things. The patient fee is typically SEK 200 to SEK 300 with an EHIC.
• Emergency departments (akutmottagning) charge around SEK 400 with an EHIC and have long waits for non-urgent problems.
• Without an EHIC or insurance, expect several thousand kronor for the same visit.

Pharmacies

• Apotek is the word. Apoteket, Kronans and Apotek Hjartat are the main chains.
• Pharmacists advise well and speak English.
• Painkillers are sold in supermarkets in small packs; anything stronger is pharmacy-only.
• Bring your own prescription medicines with the prescription. A foreign prescription cannot normally be dispensed in Sweden.

Everyday

• Tap water is excellent everywhere and is often better than the bottled version.
• Winter dryness and darkness hit harder than people expect. Vitamin D is what every Swede takes from October to March.
• Sunburn in summer is easy to get, because the temperature hides it and the days are 18 hours long.
• Mosquitoes in Lapland from June to August are legendary. Head nets are sold locally and are not a joke.