There is no single national number for public hospitals and clinics in South Africa, and no central directory that lists their switchboards. Public healthcare is run by the nine provincial health departments, not by the national Department of Health, and each facility’s own number is published locally if at all. This page explains how to reach the right part of the system, and gives the national and provincial routes that are verified.
ContactDetails.co.za is an independent directory. We are not a hospital, a clinic or a health department, and we cannot make an appointment or access a patient record. Everything here is a routing aid.
If this is an emergency
Call 10177 for an ambulance, or 112 from any mobile phone. Both work nationally and are free. Do not phone a hospital or clinic switchboard for an emergency: a switchboard is not a dispatch line, it is not staffed around the clock at most clinics, and the minutes spent waiting for it to answer are the ones that matter.
- 10177 reaches ambulance and fire services.
- 112 works from any mobile phone, including one with no airtime, and is routed to an emergency centre.
- 10111 is the police, for a crime rather than a medical emergency.
- If you are on a medical scheme, its own emergency number may dispatch a private ambulance, but do not delay a 10177 call while looking for it.
The referral chain, and why it matters
South African public healthcare is organised in tiers, and you are expected to enter at the bottom. Understanding this saves more wasted trips than any phone number on this page.
- Clinic or community health centre. Primary care: routine consultations, chronic medicine, immunisation, family planning, antenatal care, and minor injuries. Most run weekday daytime hours. This is where a referral letter comes from.
- District hospital. General admissions, deliveries and routine surgery. Normally entered by referral from a clinic, except in an emergency.
- Regional hospital. Specialist services, taking referrals from district hospitals.
- Tertiary and academic hospitals. Highly specialised care and health-professional training. Referral only, except in an emergency.
Arriving at a hospital for something a clinic handles usually means being sent to a clinic. Arriving at a specialist hospital without a referral letter usually means being sent back down the chain. Neither is bureaucratic obstruction: it is how the system allocates limited specialist capacity.
Who runs the facility you are looking for
- A provincial health department runs public hospitals and clinics. The province, not the national department, is responsible for staffing, budgets and day-to-day operation.
- The national Department of Health sets policy and standards. It does not run facilities and does not resolve individual patient complaints; it will refer you back to the province.
- A municipality runs some primary health clinics in certain areas, particularly in the metros, which is why a clinic query is occasionally a municipal one.
- A private hospital group such as Mediclinic, Netcare or Life runs its own hospitals, each with its own switchboard, and bills you or your medical scheme directly.
- The South African Military Health Service runs military hospitals for defence force members and their dependants, outside the provincial system entirely.
Verified national and provincial routes
These were verified on official sources on 21 August 2026. Where a provincial health department does not publish a reachable contact number, we have said so rather than list an unverified one.
| What it is for | Contact |
|---|---|
| Ambulance and fire, nationally | 10177 |
| Emergency from any mobile phone | 112 |
| National Department of Health helpline | 0800 012 322 |
| National Department of Health email | [email protected] |
| Health Ombud, complaints about standard of care | 080 911 6472 |
| Health Ombud complaints email | [email protected] |
| Office of Health Standards Compliance switchboard | 012 942 7700 |
| Eastern Cape Department of Health call centre | 0800 032 364 |
| Eastern Cape Department of Health email | [email protected] |
| KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, toll free | 0800 205 334 |
| Northern Cape provincial government | 053 030 0800 |
Gauteng, Western Cape, Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West do not publish a health department contact number we could read and verify on an official source, so we have not listed one for them. For a facility in those provinces, the facility itself and the national routes above are the reliable starting points.
How to find one facility’s own number
- Ask at the facility. Reception will give you the switchboard number, and it is the only source guaranteed to be current.
- Check your clinic card, referral letter or hospital file. Facility numbers are commonly printed on them.
- Ask the referring clinic. Clinics deal with their district hospital daily and hold its number.
- Ask the provincial health department where one publishes a contact route.
- Treat directory listings with caution. Public facility numbers change, wards are renumbered, and stale numbers persist online for years. We do not republish them for that reason.
What to bring
- Your identity document, or the patient’s.
- Your clinic card, and your hospital file number if you have attended before.
- The referral letter, for anything above clinic level.
- Your chronic medicine card if you are collecting a repeat.
- Proof of income where you have it. Public healthcare is means-tested under the Uniform Patient Fee Schedule, and pregnant women, children under six and several other categories are treated free of charge. Not having proof does not mean you will be turned away, but it affects what you are asked to pay.
Complaints about care
- Raise it with the facility first and get a reference number. Every stage after this asks for it.
- Escalate to the provincial health department if the facility does not resolve it.
- Take it to the Health Ombud, within the Office of Health Standards Compliance, on 080 911 6472 or [email protected]. The Ombud investigates the standard of care at any facility, public or private, and expects the earlier steps to have been used.
- A complaint about a practitioner’s conduct goes to the HPCSA, which registers doctors and other health professionals, rather than to the Ombud.
- The MEC for Health is a politician, not a service desk. Writing to that office normally results in referral back to the department.
The scam to watch for
Be careful with anyone charging a fee to arrange faster treatment, a hospital bed or an appointment. Public healthcare is allocated by clinical need and queue, and no intermediary can buy a place in it. Payments requested into a personal account for anything at a public facility should be refused and reported.
Be equally careful with clinics advertising guaranteed cures, particularly for chronic conditions or men’s health. Anyone treating patients must be registered with the HPCSA, and medicines must be registered with SAHPRA to be sold lawfully. Ask for a registration number, and check it.
Related contact pages
- Healthcare contact pages
- Medical aid contact pages
- Complaints and escalation contact pages
- How to verify a contact number before you use it
Frequently asked questions
Is there a national number for public hospitals?
No. Public healthcare is run by the nine provincial health departments, and individual facilities do not publish switchboard numbers in a central national list.
What is the emergency number for an ambulance?
10177 nationally, or 112 from any mobile phone. Both are free, and 112 works even on a phone with no airtime.
Do I need a referral to go to a hospital?
For anything that is not an emergency, generally yes. The public system expects you to start at a clinic, which refers you upward. Arriving at a hospital without a referral usually means being sent to a clinic first.
Is public healthcare free in South Africa?
It is means-tested under the Uniform Patient Fee Schedule rather than uniformly free. Pregnant women, children under six and several other categories are treated free of charge, and fees for others are scaled to income.
Who do I complain to about a public hospital?
The facility first, then the provincial health department, then the Health Ombud on 080 911 6472. Keep the reference number from each stage, because every stage asks for the previous one.
Why does this page not list individual hospital numbers?
Because we could not verify them on official sources. Public facility numbers change and stale listings persist online for years, and an out-of-date number for a hospital is worse than none.
Routes on this page were checked against official sources on 21 August 2026. Where a detail has changed, the official source is always the authority.