Health Care Sal Island
The type of medical provision on Sal Island is improving however, as we are over 300 kilometers from Dakar, Senegal and 2hrs 30 minutes flight time from Gran Canaria, it is worth looking at good healthcare and travel insurance in case you are taken ill or have an accident while on the island or other islands. Please be aware that not all islands have airports; so if you are not on one of the islands with an airport when you become seriously ill or injured and need to be medevaced to the Canaries or other country, you will firstly need transporting to a Cape Verde island that has an airport!
There is a hospital in Espargos and a Health Centre ( Centro de Saúde) that opened in Santa Maria in 2020.There are three private clinics in Santa Maria accessible by expats and tourists, these are:Clinitur / Santa Maria Clinic/ Medlab. There are plans for further clinics.
In emergencies, tourists would contact their Tour Operator (if they used one for their trip to Sal), their insurance company and if necessary, their Honorary Consul, Consulates or Embassies for assistance.
You can visit the page for general information on Health Care in Cape Verde which refers to some difficulties for tourists who may not speak Portuguese or where medical staff don't speak other languages. Please read the information on this page about Clinics and Hospitals. Tourists should also note comments on medevac services and health insurance cover.
It is advisable for those living or working in Cape Verde that are not covered by International Healthcare Insurance, to obtain cover for accidents and emergencies and if necessary medevac.
Those living and working on the Cape Verde islands would be required to pay Employment Institute of National Social Security (INPS)
Emergency numbers:
Hospital - 130
Fire-brigade – 131
Police – 132
Detective force – 800 11 34
Clinitur - 19th July 2018 (Clinica de Saude e Turismo LDA)
Clinitur is situated along The Hotel Boulevard in Santa Maria. At Clinitur there are a total of 8 nurses, with Nurse cover 24-7. There are three Doctors that rotate cover at the practice, currently two are General Medical Family Doctors and the other a General Medical Doctor, who is also a General Surgeon.
Opening Hours: between Mon - Fri 0800-2200hrs, Saturday and Sunday 0800-1500hrs. The Reception is covered during the same hours. The Labour Technicians and Dentist will be there in daytime hours. You can contact the Receptionist during normal opening hours via: (00238) 242 9090 or Mobile: 592 3826.
Emergency 'out of hours' (after 10p.m Mon-Fri and after 3p.m weekends) can be made by contacting the Nurse on: (00238) 592 3826 / 988 7075
During an an 'out of hours' emergency, those seeking medical help should call the telephone numbers: 592 3826 / 988 7075.
All Doctors and Nurses speak English to different levels of ability.
Fees
If living on Sal Island 1.800ecv (16 euros) for a Doctors appointment during normal opening hours. 'Out of Hours' the cost is 4.500 ecv (41 euros). Tourists woud pay 70 euros for a Doctors appointment during normal opening hours and 90 euros for 'out of hours' Doctors appointments. If the tourist or patient is not well enough to come to the Clinic the Doctor will visit the patient at their hotel or home, this will be at a higher fee.
Facilities at Clinitur
We now have a Dentist as well as a Laboratory. We have; Tomography, Ultrasound, Tac scan, ultrasound, bone dentistometry, x-ray, endoscopy, physiotherapy, and specialist dentist x-ray for jaw. We don't have MRI facility as yet. Images of some of the rooms and equipment at Clinitur can be viewed here: Clinitur - Medical Facility - Sal Island
Protocol
There are certain protocols we follow in emergencies such as, if there is a patient with appendicitis the patient would be taken to the Hospital in Espargos and one of the Clinitur Doctors would go there to perform the operation. After a few days the patient would return to Clinitur and remain under supervision at the Clinic until recovered (there's a fee per night). However, if the Doctor is unable to perform the surgery, the Doctors complete a report for the Insurance Company, they notify the insurance company, the insurance company emails the Doctor, the Doctor sends the Insurance Company the Medical report. Note: it is up to the patient to notify their Insurance Company in the first instance, so that contact information needs to be with the patient while on Sal. Friends or family should be able to access the information on behalf of the patient, if the patient is not capable of contacting the Insurance Company due to injury or ill health. The Insurance company will decide on what action will be taken and whether to send an ambulance plane to Sal with a Nurse and a Doctor.
In normal circumstances with residents, if there is a severe injury, one that cannot be dealt with on Sal, such as loss of limb, damaged nerve endings, patients would be transferred to Mindelo on the island of Sao Vicente, or Praia on the island of Santiago to their medical facilities.Email enquiries: geral@clinitur.com
Santa Maria Clinica
Doctor's Surgery - Private Practice - Santa Maria Clinic
The surgery is run by Dr. Nuno Lopes, the main practitioner. The clinic is situated in Santa Maria. Their opening hours are Mon – Friday 0800 – 1900 hrs. Saturday ...... - ....... Sunday....... - ...... Dr. Nuno has an emergency call out telephone number for hotels. The number hotel staff would ring in an emergency is 982 54 06. However please note, normal fees during opening times at his Clinic is 20 Euros for a consultation. For emergency call outs hotel guests are required to pay 70 Euros. You can appreciate if a Doctor has been called out at night for an emergency, if there is no other Doctor available for the daytime clinic, the practice may not open.
In the past, people living in Santa Maria would prefer to go to the hospital in an emergency as they do not have the 70 euros emergency call out fee.
Email: dr_nunolopes@hotmail.com
There's a dental practice based within the clinic. Details: Dr. Helder Neves, Oral Care - Clinica Dentaria. Email: oralcarelda@hotmail.com
TEL: 00238 5823348/5292029. Dr Helder speaks English.
Other specialist Doctors visit the Clinic to provide specialist tests etc such as Ultrasound.
MEDLAB ( Centro Médico and Laboratório )
Doctors’ Surgery - Private Practice - Medlab Dra.Helga (speaks English) Situated in Santa Maria Open 9a.m.to 7p.m. Mon to Fri. Sat and Sun 9a.m. to 1p.m. Tel: +238 242 2242 Mobile: +238 952 5058
August 09 - Doctor Helga (previously at Clinitur) stated that even though we may have had the Hepatitis 'A' vaccine as a combination vaccine in the UK, which is supposed to last 10yrs, those that live on the islands should have the Hep A vaccine every 12months (in June), as new strains are passed on from person to person.
EMERMEDICAL CABO VERDE ( Air Ambulance Service and other Medical Services )
We have been evacuating patients from Cape Verde to the Canary Islands for more than 15 years, or to Germany or the United Kingdom, for example. In Africa, we transported from Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, Gunea Bissau, Guinea Konacry to the Canary Islands, for 18 years. We have extensive experience in the sector.
The costs for extracting a patient by air ambulance will depend on the circumstances of injury, medical care required and country in which they are to be evacuated to. One patient's costs were estimated at 35,000 euros, others could be less or more than that. "What I (at Emermedical) recommend to expatriates, is that they take out medical insurance in their country, which covers these cases. It's the best option".
Hospitals and Private Clinics on Sal have our contact details and have used our services. We have an office in Santa Maria, Sal Island, Cape Verde. We also have an ambulance based outside Santa Maria Clinica.
We currently work with 93 insurers and travel assistants in different countries.
Emergencia Cabo Verde have a private room at their disposal at the hospital in Espargos, with private bathroom, air conditioning and tv as in a private medical center, but for a much more reasonable price.The hospital in Espargos is very good.
Our website is in Spanish, the information below about Emermedical, has been translated from the website using Google Translate.
Emermedical is a company of medical services and pre-hospital health benefits of HIGH QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY, concerned to provide tranquility and confidence to people and companies seeking the solution to their health problems through our professional services.
The main objective that moves us is above all and in the first place, to provide our patients with seriousness, security and tranquility regarding their affections, we like our work for which we want to transmit all this to the patients, demonstrating at all times our professionalism.
Our website is a new commitment to new technologies to improve quality and speed up communication with our regular customers and with those who will be in the near future. Do not hesitate to contact us, we are sure you will not regret it.
Faithful to our philosophy of work, fruit of many years of experience dedicated to the sector, our goal is always to offer the best service to our clients.
Here is some further information in English: EMERMEDICAL pdfEmail: caboverde@emermedical.es
Related Pages
External Links
Why Expats need cover for Emergency Medical Evacuation to another country.
