Health Care

Visitors who need health care should either go to the out-patient service of a private hospital or to a private clinic. Check with your embassy or local hosts for a referral. At the private hospitals, you open an account and are provided with a health card, which you present on each visit. You then pay a nominal fee each time you visit. You also pay for any medicines or tests. There are no appointments: you simply go and take a number and wait your turn. Doctors in private practice charge much higher rates, and it is possible to make appointments with them. Do not go to a public hospital because they are over-crowded, understaffed, and short on equipment and supplies.

Visitors should come to the country prepared with anti-diarrheal and anti-malarial medications. Give your body time to get used to the food. Eat freshly and throughly cooked hot foods, drink bottled water and soft drinks, and carefully wash fruits with clean water. A variety of immunizations are required or recommended before entering the country.

Many local people may also go to a "witch doctor" or local herbalist for care. These doctors practice traditional methods of healing and offer herbal medicines for many common ailments. People use the herbalists both instead of and in conjunction with hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies.