Emergencies in Nassau

Good to Know

• 911 and 919 both work in Nassau for police, fire, and medical emergencies and are free to dial from any phone.
• If you have a serious accident or medical emergency, Princess Margaret Hospital's Accident & Emergency department is the main public trauma center in Nassau.
• For boating or water-related emergencies (common in a nomad-friendly island city), BASRA is the dedicated search-and-rescue contact rather than the general police/fire line.
• Local emergency line outages have been reported occasionally; it's worth also saving the direct police station number for New Providence as a backup rather than relying solely on 911/919.
• Foreign residents/visitors dealing with an emergency involving a US citizen should also know the US Embassy Nassau's number, separate from local emergency services.
• Princess Margaret Hospital (public) is the country's official trauma centre and the place ambulances take serious/critical trauma cases; Doctors Hospital (private) is a common choice for nomads with travel insurance who want shorter wait times for urgent-but-not-life-threatening issues.
• For very serious or complex trauma/critical care, medevac transfer to Miami is sometimes used even after initial stabilization in Nassau — worth checking that your travel insurance covers medical evacuation.
• Both hospitals are within a few minutes of each other in the downtown Nassau/Shirley Street area, so it's easy to know your nearest options as a nomad based in the city center.
• Doctors Hospital also runs a separate outpatient/urgent-care style location on Paradise Island with limited daytime hours only — that location is NOT a 24/7 ER, so don't rely on it for true emergencies.