Finding a doctor in Czechia: GPs, dentists and specialists

In Czechia you pick your own general practitioner (praktický lékař), as long as the surgery has a contract with your health insurer and room to take you. You sign a registration form there, and that doctor becomes your first stop for anything that isn't an emergency. Dentists and gynaecologists register you the same way, and most specialists want a referral from a doctor first.

How do I register with a GP?

You can choose any doctor who has a contract with your health insurer.¹ Four kinds of doctor take you on as a registered patient: a general practitioner, a GP for children and adolescents (praktický lékař pro děti a dorost), a dentist and a gynaecologist.²

1. Find a surgery near you. Your insurer's search lists the doctors it has contracts with; the National Register of Healthcare Providers (NRPZS) lists every provider in the country, mostly with phone numbers and the insurers they work with.³
2. Ask whether it takes new patients. A surgery decides whether it has room, within the rules below.
3. Sign the registration form. The doctor fills it in and you sign; the surgery keeps one copy and you get the other.²
4. Show your insurance card at every visit.⁴

You're registered with one doctor of each kind at a time, and a new registration cancels the old one.² You can change your registering doctor once every 3 months; the limit doesn't apply to any other doctor you see.¹ When you change GP, your old one must send a copy of your medical records within 15 days of your new one asking for it.⁵

What if no GP will take me?

A surgery can turn you away only for reasons the law lists:⁶

• it's full, or its running, staff or equipment don't allow it; being full means taking you on would lower the quality and safety of care for the patients it already has;
• you live too far for home visits, a reason open only to GPs and children's doctors;
• you're not insured with an insurer it has a contract with. This reason doesn't apply to people insured in another EU or EEA country, Switzerland or a country with a social security agreement with Czechia.

It can't turn you away if you need urgent care or are giving birth, and it has to give you the reason in writing.⁶

Making care available is your health insurer's job: it must have enough doctors under contract,⁷ and a government decree sets travel times, at most 35 minutes to a GP, a children's GP, a gynaecologist, a dentist or a pharmacy, and 45 to 120 minutes to specialists, depending on the field: 60 minutes to a dermatologist or a psychiatrist, for example.⁸ If you can't find a doctor, the Ministry of Health's online form passes your request to your insurer,⁹ and VZP, for one, helps by phone or at a branch.¹⁰

Do I need a referral to see a specialist?

Usually. There's no general rule that you need one from your GP, but most specialists ask for a referral, the "K" form (poukaz K), which your GP or another specialist writes.¹¹ Some visits don't need one: you can see a dermatologist about a mole that has changed without a referral, and your insurer pays.¹²

You can also see a contracted doctor you aren't registered with, for example when you fall ill away from home. That doctor bills your insurer, not you.¹³

What does public health insurance pay for?

A doctor with a contract with your insurer can't take any payment from you for care the insurance covers.¹⁴ That includes preventive check-ups:¹⁵

At the dentist, insurance also pays for removing tartar once a year and for fillings: in full for children, and for adults with a basic white filling (non-layered photocomposite). With other materials, adults pay the difference.¹⁶

For care that isn't covered, or only partly, the surgery must tell you the price before treating you, keep a price list where patients can see it, and can't charge for anything that isn't on it.¹⁷ An out-of-hours visit costs a 90 Kč fee (Emergencies and pharmacies).

How do I find a doctor who speaks English?

Start with the same two lists: they give each surgery's contacts, so you can ask before you register.³ Whatever language the doctor speaks, the law gives you the right to communicate through an interpreter you choose, such as a person you bring along, for any foreign language except Slovak; it doesn't make the surgery provide or pay for one.¹⁸ You also have the right to have someone close to you, or someone you name, with you, as long as it doesn't get in the way of your care.¹⁹

Every region also has a Centre for the Integration of Foreigners (Centrum na podporu integrace cizinců), backed by the Ministry of the Interior, which helps foreigners find their way around life in Czechia.²⁰ This page doesn't recommend private clinics.

What if I have commercial insurance for foreigners?

If you have comprehensive health insurance for foreigners instead of public insurance (Health insurance), it pays for care from the insurer's contracted doctors and hospitals without you paying them directly. It can't exclude preventive check-ups, regular care for a long-term condition, or pregnancy and childbirth.²¹

A surgery without a contract with your insurer can turn you away, and it may ask you to pay before treating you, unless you need urgent care.^{6 22} Your insurer's list of contracted providers shows where you can be treated without paying.

Sources

1. Public Health Insurance Act (Act 48/1997 Coll.), §11(1)(b); VZP, how often can I change my GP?, checked 28 October 2026. ↩ ↩²

2. VZP, what is a registration form?, 29 May 2023. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. VZP, can VZP help me find a doctor?, checked 28 October 2026; ÚZIS, National Register of Healthcare Providers, checked 28 October 2026. ↩ ↩²

4. Public Health Insurance Act (Act 48/1997 Coll.), §12(h). ↩

5. Health Services Act (Act 372/2011 Coll.), §45(2)(h). ↩

6. Health Services Act (Act 372/2011 Coll.), §48(1), (3) and (5). ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. Public Health Insurance Act (Act 48/1997 Coll.), §11(1)(c) and §46(1). ↩

8. Government Decree 307/2012 Coll., annex 1, part 1. ↩

9. Ministry of Health, complaint about unavailable health care, checked 28 October 2026. ↩

10. VZP, can VZP help me find a dentist?, checked 28 October 2026. ↩

11. VZP, how long are referrals valid?, checked 28 October 2026. ↩

12. VZP, seeing a dermatologist, 12 May 2025. ↩

13. VZP, treatment by a doctor other than your registering one, checked 28 October 2026. ↩ ↩²

14. Public Health Insurance Act (Act 48/1997 Coll.), §11(1)(d). ↩

15. Public Health Insurance Act (Act 48/1997 Coll.), §29; Decree 70/2012 Coll. on preventive check-ups, §2, §6 and §7. ↩

16. Public Health Insurance Act (Act 48/1997 Coll.), annex 1, items 19 and 21. ↩

17. Health Services Act (Act 372/2011 Coll.), §45(2)(a) and (b), §48(6)(b). ↩

18. Health Services Act (Act 372/2011 Coll.), §30(1) and (2). ↩

19. Health Services Act (Act 372/2011 Coll.), §28(3)(e)(3). ↩

20. Ministry of the Interior, Centres for the Integration of Foreigners, checked 28 October 2026. ↩

21. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §180j(8). ↩

22. Health Services Act (Act 372/2011 Coll.), §48(6)(c). ↩ ↩²

23. Public Health Protection Act (Act 258/2000 Coll.), §50. ↩