Emergencies in Hoi An

Good to Know

• There is no single 911-style number in Vietnam — you must know which of 113 (police), 114 (fire), or 115 (ambulance) applies to your situation.
• Don't expect fluent English from the 113/114/115 operators in Hoi An; having a Vietnamese-speaking friend, hotel staff, or a translation app ready will speed things up enormously.
• For non-life-threatening medical issues, grabbing a taxi or Grab straight to a clinic (in Hoi An) or a larger hospital in Da Nang is often quicker and more reliable than waiting on an ambulance.
• Save your hotel or accommodation host's phone number — they can communicate with local authorities on your behalf and are usually the fastest practical help in a real emergency.
• Keep your embassy's emergency contact number saved separately for passport loss, arrests, or major crises — local emergency lines will not handle those.
• For serious trauma, major surgery, or complex emergencies, patients are often stabilized in Hoi An and then transferred to larger hospitals in Da Nang (roughly 30-45 minutes away), which have more advanced trauma and ICU capacity.
• Saigon Hoi An General Hospital (Pacific Hospital) is generally the better first stop for foreigners due to English-speaking staff and a dedicated international patient area, but it is a general hospital, not a dedicated trauma center.
• The public Hoi An Medical Center has 24/7 emergency care but limited English support, so having a translation app or local contact on hand is genuinely useful.
• Vietnam does not use a US-style Level I-IV trauma center classification system, so no hospital in Hoi An carries an official 'trauma level' designation.
• Always carry travel/medical insurance details, as private facility care and any transfer to Da Nang will typically require upfront payment or insurance verification.