The thing that stops people on a first hospital visit in Korea is not the consultation. It is choosing which hospital to go to. Heading straight for the largest, best-known one feels safer, but referrals, appointments and queues make it slower in practice.
Decide where to go first
- Colds, fever, stomach upsets, minor pain — a neighbourhood clinic. Same-day appointments are easy and it costs less
- CT or MRI imaging, possible surgery or admission — a general hospital
- Cancer, serious or rare conditions — a tertiary hospital, but check the referral requirement first
- Difficulty breathing, chest pain, reduced consciousness, major injury — the emergency room
Seeing a neighbourhood clinic and getting a referral if you need one is the fastest route into a large hospital. Insured treatment at a tertiary hospital generally requires a referral letter, with statutory exceptions including emergencies, childbirth and family medicine, so check what applies to the department you need.
What to bring
Bring your passport or alien registration card without exception. Identity verification was tightened from 20 May 2024 and clinics ask for identification far more often than they used to. The official mobile health insurance certificate is also accepted. Beyond that: a payment method, a list of any medication you currently take along with allergy information, and a written note of your symptoms. Consultations are short, and knowing when it started, where it hurts and how badly does more for accuracy than anything else you can prepare.
If your registration card has not arrived yet, insured treatment is sometimes possible with a certificate of alien registration fact. This varies case by case, so check with the hospital reception or the National Health Insurance Service on 1577-1000 before you go rather than after.
The visit runs in four steps
Inside the hospital, take a ticket at reception or the administration desk and present your identification; you receive a registration slip. Take that slip to the nursing desk in front of the department and wait to be called. After the consultation, pay at the payment counter or a self-service kiosk and collect your prescription. Finally, take the prescription to a pharmacy outside the hospital, which dispenses the medication and explains how to take it.
Knowing the department shortens the conversation
Runny nose, cough, sore throat or ear pain go to otolaryngology. Fever, body aches, abdominal pain and diarrhoea go to internal medicine. Skin rashes and itching go to dermatology, sprains and joint pain to orthopaedics, and eye problems to ophthalmology. Reception will ask whether this is your first visit, which department you want, and what the symptom is, so deciding in advance makes that exchange short even with limited Korean.
Korean phrases for each step, a fuller symptom-to-department table, and how long a prescription stays valid are in the hospital visit guide on the WeBring blog.