Medical Care in Ostend: Pharmacies, Doctors and Emergencies

Nobody plans to get ill on holiday, but an upset stomach, an ear infection or a tumble off a bike can happen anywhere. Belgium has excellent healthcare and Ostend is well covered, so help is never far away. The system works a little differently from the one you may know at home, though: you do not simply walk into a hospital for everything. Here is who to call and where to go, from a real emergency to a minor ailment a pharmacist can sort out.

The numbers you need

112 is the single European emergency number. It is free, works from any mobile even with no credit or SIM, and the operators speak Dutch, French and English. You can also use the free 112 BE app, which shares your location automatically. Keep 112 for genuine emergencies: chest pain, serious bleeding, difficulty breathing, a suspected stroke or a bad fall.

If it is an emergency

For anything life-threatening, call 112 and let the ambulance come to you rather than driving a seriously ill or injured person yourself. If you can safely make your own way, the emergency department (spoedgevallen) for Ostend is at AZ Oostende, campus Damiaan, Gouwelozestraat 100, with the emergency entrance on the Konterdamkaai, just south of the centre. Since early 2025 all emergency care in the city has been concentrated here, so this is the hospital to head for, day or night.

Feeling unwell, but it is not urgent

For everyday complaints — a sore throat, hay fever, an upset stomach, blisters, sunburn — your first stop is a pharmacy. Belgian pharmacists are highly trained and used to advising visitors; they can suggest an over-the-counter remedy and tell you whether you really need to see a doctor.

If you do need a doctor during the day on a weekday, the simplest route is to ask your hotel or host, who will know a practice nearby. In the evening, at night or at the weekend, use the GP out-of-hours post below. And for anything that cannot wait, the emergency department is open around the clock.

A doctor in the evening or at the weekend: the GP post

Belgium runs local GP out-of-hours posts (huisartsenwachtpost) for urgent but non-life-threatening problems when normal surgeries are shut. Ostend’s post is staffed by around sixty local GPs and sits right next to the hospital’s emergency department, so you are in the right place whichever one you turn out to need.

• Always phone first: call 1733. You will be given a time to come in; a home visit is arranged only for people who genuinely cannot travel.
• Where: next to the emergency department at AZ Oostende, campus Damiaan, on the Konterdamkaai. Use the hospital’s parking tower (entrances on the Gouwelozestraat and the Konterdamkaai) and follow the path to the post.
• When: weekday evenings 19:00–23:00, and weekends and public holidays 8:00–23:00. Outside those hours the line directs you to your own doctor, the emergency department or the Bruges post.
• Bring: ID (e-ID or passport) and your health card if you have one. You pay at the end of the visit, so keep the receipt to claim the cost back.
• Not for: repeat prescriptions, sleeping pills, routine sick notes or long-standing conditions — those are for your own GP.

Pharmacies

Pharmacies (apotheek) are marked by a green cross, usually lit, and there are plenty across the centre, including on and around the main shopping streets — the Kapellestraat, Adolf Buylstraat, Vlaanderenstraat and Torhoutsesteenweg. You can browse the ones we have listed in the pharmacies section of our Shopping guide. One thing to know: in Belgium, unlike the UK, supermarkets and corner shops do not sell medicines. Even paracetamol comes from a pharmacy, so it is worth spotting your nearest one.

Most pharmacies open Monday to Saturday, roughly 09:00 to 18:30, often with a lunch break, and many close on Sunday. Outside those hours one nearby pharmacy is always on duty. To find it, call 0903 99 000 or use the search on apotheek.be, which maps the closest duty pharmacy to your address; a duty rota is also posted in every pharmacy window.

Dentist

For a dental emergency at the weekend or on a public holiday, between 9:00 and 18:00, call the dentist-on-duty line on 0903 39 969 or check tandarts.be. On weekdays, ask your accommodation to point you to a local dental practice.

The hospital: AZ Oostende

Ostend’s hospital is AZ Oostende, formed in 2023 from the former AZ Damiaan and the Henri Serruys hospital. It runs two campuses, a few minutes apart:

• Campus Damiaan (Gouwelozestraat 100): the acute campus, home to the emergency department. Tel +32 59 41 40 40.
• Campus Serruys (Kaïrostraat 84): planned care and outpatient clinics, nearer the centre, with no emergency department. Tel +32 59 55 51 11.

The general number is +32 59 41 61 11 and the website is azoostende.be. For an emergency, always go to campus Damiaan.

Visitors from abroad

Healthcare in Belgium is not free at the point of use: you normally pay the doctor, pharmacy or hospital and reclaim part of the cost afterwards.

• EU, EEA and Switzerland: carry your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). It entitles you to state healthcare on the same terms as a Belgian resident; you pay, then claim the reimbursement.
• United Kingdom: the UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), or an in-date EHIC, is valid in Belgium for medically necessary treatment on the same basis.
• Everyone: take out travel insurance as well. The cards do not cover private clinics or, crucially, the cost of being flown home, which can run into tens of thousands of euros.
• Keep every receipt from a doctor, pharmacy or hospital to support your claim.

On the beach

Most seaside mishaps are minor — sunburn, grazes, a jellyfish sting — but the North Sea deserves respect. Swim only in a guarded zone, marked by yellow buoys and the lifeguards’ red-and-yellow flags, and stay between them.

• Lifeguards (the coastal service IKWV) watch the guarded zones daily from 10:30 to 18:30 during the summer holidays, with fewer posts open in June and September. Outside those hours and dates nobody is on duty, so call 112 if someone is in trouble in the water.
• Watch the flag: green means swimming is allowed, yellow means you may swim but with care and no inflatables (lilos and rings must stay on the sand), and red means swimming is forbidden.
• Stings: weever fish, which bury in the sand at low tide, and jellyfish are the usual culprits. A lifeguard can help; for a weever sting the standard advice is to soak the foot in water as hot as you can comfortably bear, and to see a pharmacist if it swells or will not settle.

Official information

• City of Ostend: out-of-hours services and AEDs
• AZ Oostende hospital
• Huisartsenwachtpost Oostende (GP out-of-hours post)
• Find a pharmacy on duty
• City of Ostend: safe swimming
• Guarded beaches on the coast (IKWV)