Portugal
Health & Medical Emergencies
Last verified August 15, 2026
Written for U.S. passport holders
Emergency Numbers
- Dial 112 for ambulance, police, or fire, Portugal's only national emergency number, free from any phone, 24/7.
- Medical calls are routed to INEM (Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica), the national medical emergency institute, through its CODU coordination centers.
- For U.S. consular emergency assistance (a detained or hospitalized American, coordinating care, notifying family), call the State Department's Overseas Citizens Services from anywhere in the world: +1-888-407-4747 (from the U.S. or Canada) or +1-202-501-4444 (from overseas). This is separate from the local emergency number and won't dispatch an ambulance itself, but it's the number that gets the U.S. government involved.
Getting Treated as a Foreigner
- As with the rest of the EU, the reciprocal free-care arrangement that covers EU nationals doesn't extend to U.S. citizens. Expect a bill for hospital treatment and plan to handle it through your own travel insurance rather than any Portugal-U.S. equivalent, since none exists.
The Gotcha
Portugal's 112 system is genuinely simple, one number, no separate lines to remember, which is easy to appreciate given how fragmented emergency numbers are in several other countries on this site. Don't let that simplicity translate into assuming the care itself is free for you, though; it's the same reciprocal-coverage gap that applies to every EU country here.
Sources
This page was drafted from the primary sources below. Rules change, so check the linked page directly before relying on any of this.
- Contactos de emergência em Portugal (Portal do Governo de Portugal (gov.pt))
- Help Abroad (Overseas Citizens Services) (U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs)