Medical care and emergencies

If you have a minor ailment, head to a pharmacy ( apotik), which can provide many medicines without prescription. Condoms ( kondom) are available from pharmacists. Only in the main tourist areas will assistants speak English; in the village health posts, staff are generally ill-equipped to cope with serious illness. If you need an English-speaking doctor ( doktor) or dentist ( doktor gigi) seek advice at your hotel (some of the luxury ones have an in-house doctor) or at the local tourist office. You'll find a public hospital ( rumah sakit) in major cities and towns, and in some places these are supplemented by private hospitals, many of which operate an accident and emergency department. If you have a serious accident or illness, you will need to be evacuated home or to Singapore, which has the best medical provision in Asia. It is, therefore, vital to arrange health insurance before you leave home .

Other useful information for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections):