We welcome you to our general medical practice during your stay and/or studies in Leiden.

We would like to let you know about a few facts that you do need to be aware of concerning the Dutch health care system and our general medical practice:

• In the Netherlands, a general practitioner (‘first line health care’) is the gate-keeper for the medical specialists and hospitals (‘second line health care’). If you have a medical question or complaint, you first need to have an initial consultation with a General Practitioner (GP). During your consult, the GP will determine if he/she can treat you appropriately.
• If the GP is unable to treat you (in the Netherlands more than 90% of the health problems are treated by GP’s), or, when the initial treatment does not solve the medical condition, you may be referred  to a medical specialist. During your treatment by any specialist, your GP will be kept informed of treatment.
• To make it possible to obtain access to the Dutch health care system it is therefore necessary to register with a GP.
• When you require medication on a prescription, you only can source this from the pharmacy after consulting a GP (or medical specialist). The GP and the pharmacy closely cooperate. For repeats of medication, you also have to contact your GP (or medical specialist). Usually a consultation is not necessary then.
• Every Dutch citizen has to be insured for health care according to the ‘Zorgverzekeringswet‘ (i.e. Dutch Public Health Insurance Law). As a foreigner you are (usually) not insured in that way.  We then ask you to pay for our services (e.g. a consultation). The rates are laid down by Dutch government. With the receipt your health insurance company repays this (of course only if your policy allows this).
• When, as a foreigner, you are indeed insured according to the ‘Zorgverzekeringswet’ you don’t have to pay for most of our services; we then declare these directly to your health insurance company. In that case you also must have a so called dutch ‘BSN’ (‘BurgerServiceNummer‘, i.e. social security number).

For questions about our general practice you can refer to our website. Please note that our website is only in Dutch. The most important facts about our general practice you can read in the English version of the brochure.

We hope that the above information is useful to you. Should you have further questions or if the process is not entirely clear to you, please use the contact form or telephone us on 071 -512 52 45.

If you wish to register, you can fill in the registration form as complete as possible.

Important information for international students of the Leiden University
All students are obliged to have health insurance to cover any medical costs incurred during their stay. This is a legal requirement for all temporary and permanent residents in the Netherlands. The Leiden University strongly recommends that students ensure they have medical insurance before their arrival. Please see the Leiden University website for more information on the different types of health insurance available to you.