Emergency Medical Assistance
Call 112 immediately (911 should also work on your smartphone) if you are having a medical emergency here in Croatia. If you become sick or injured, the Consular section can assist you in finding emergency medical care, and, if you wish, inform your family and friends.
The Embassy of the United States of America and its Consular section are forbidden by law to act as a guarantor for any medical bills. However, if you need funds for medical care, we can assist you in contacting family and friends to transfer money to you, and we can facilitate the transfer. In case of a life-threatening medical emergency, where medical care would be withheld absent prior payment, the Consular section can arrange for small, short-term loans. However, recipients of these loans are subject by U.S. law to travel restrictions until the loans are repaid.
Bringing Medical Drugs for Personal Use When Traveling to Croatia
The importation of medical drugs for the personal needs of passengers is possible in the quantities needed for treatment up to a month (provided that the medical drugs have been approved by the competent authorities (FDA) of the country of origin) with the possession of appropriate medical documentation (transcript of disease history, physician letter).
Persons crossing the border of Croatia may possess a medical drug that contains narcotics only on the basis of medical documentation (copy of a prescription for the medicine, transcript of the disease history or a certified medical certificate issued by an authorized physician) and in the amount necessary for the person to use for up to 5 days. If it is a person who is on substitution therapy for addiction or symptomatic therapy in the terminal stage of malignant disease, the amount of medication may be up to 15 days of personal use.
An exception to the above are persons residing or staying in the Republic of Croatia traveling to the Schengen area who may possess a medical drug containing narcotic substances in the amount necessary for personal use for up to 30 days on the basis of a certificate issued by the licensed physician (family doctor) or a physician specialized in mental health care, prevention and outpatient treatment of drug addiction).
The possession of a medical drug that contains a narcotic substances in the amount greater than that permitted, or without proper medical documentation as well as the non-disclosure of possession of a narcotic substance constitutes an offense, and the remedy is temporarily suspended under customs supervision until the misdemeanor proceedings have been terminated at the Misdemeanor Court for violation of Article 59 of the Anti-Counterfeiting Act abuse of drugs.
Important Note: In accordance with the Medicines Act and the Medical Products Act (Official Gazette 76/13), the import of medicines and medical products in postal traffic is expressly forbidden. Such consignments are returned to the sender. Accordingly, the import of medicines for personal needs of natural persons and with the prescribed prescription of the competent physician may be performed only by legal persons who have a marketing authorization with the consent of the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Products. It is also important that the medication itself is approved for marketing in the Republic of Croatia. The prohibition also applies to the free reception of medicines by natural or legal persons from abroad.
Local and International Medical Assistance Resources
Center for Disease Control Travel Information
While some of this information may be found on our website, the key resource for health information is the Travelers’ Health page of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website at http://www.cdc.gov/travel. The CDC website also provides general guidance on health precautions, such as safe food and water precautions and insect-bite protection. The CDC also maintains an international travelers’ hotline at 1-877-FYI-TRIP (1-877-394-8747) or, by fax, at 1-888-CDC-FAXX (1-888-232-3299).