Emergencies in Singapore

Good to Know

• Remember it's two numbers, not one: 999 for police, 995 for fire and ambulance — there is no single all-purpose emergency number in Singapore.
• If you call 995 for an ambulance and your condition is later assessed as non-emergency, you may be billed (around S$274) — use 1777 for non-urgent ambulance needs instead.
• Both SGSecure and myResponder are free official apps; downloading both is officially encouraged since each has slightly different features (SGSecure leans toward security/terrorism alerts and Personal SOS, myResponder toward cardiac arrest/fire community response).
• If it's unsafe to speak on a call, you can send an SMS to 70999 for police assistance instead of calling 999.
• Both 999 and 995 are toll-free and work even from a mobile phone without an active SIM card.
• Singapore does not publish a US-style 'Level I/II trauma centre' rating system to the public; hospitals like Tan Tock Seng and Singapore General are simply known as the busiest, most trauma-equipped public EDs.
• For life-threatening emergencies always call 995 for a free public ambulance, which will take you to the nearest appropriate public hospital ED — you cannot always choose which hospital you're taken to.
• Public hospital A&E departments charge a flat attendance fee even for foreigners; for example, one traveller-reported charge at Tan Tock Seng was around S$140 (about USD 104) for a straightforward case, but this is not a fixed government tariff and can vary significantly with tests/treatment given.
• Private hospitals (e.g. Mount Elizabeth, Raffles Hospital) also run 24-hour emergency departments and tend to have shorter waits, but charge substantially more than the public 'restructured' hospitals listed here — worth having travel insurance that covers this.
• Kids' emergencies are routed to KK Women's and Children's Hospital in the SingHealth cluster rather than a general adult ED.