Family & Kids - Emergencies

Laure Audidière is our Family & Kids contributor, giving you practical tips and tricks on what to do in Basel as a family. Today it's all about emergencies. Laure answers questions like: how do I get urgent help? Where can I get medical advice for adults and children, especially on weekends? Or buy medicine? How can I find a babysitter at short notice? The most important numbers to save in your phone are 144 for the ambulance, 117 for the police and 118 for fire.

Emergency Flyers

Download emergency flyer “Notfall-Flyer" here. It gives you emergency sentences translated into 4 languages (German, French, Italian & English).

Here's another flyer completely in English which has all sorts of useful services and phone numbers - scroll down and download "Notfallkarte Englisch".

Emergency Clinics

For paediatric emergencies on Saturdays and Sundays, go to the children's hospital emergency even if it is not an emergency: Universitäts-Kinderspital, Tel: +41 61 704 12 12.

Medbase Toujours is a walk-in clinic for illnesses and injuries which is open 365 days a year from 7am - 10pm. This is probably more suitable for adults - they might send any young child to the Kinderspital.

Emergency Doctors - Phone Numbers

If you prefer to call emergency doctors, there are a number of options you can try:

Medizinische Notrufzentrale MNZ - the official 24-hour emergency response centre in Basel: +41 61 261 15 15.

Emergency doctors from SOS medicine Switzerland: +41 22 748 49 50.

Provided it's not an emergency, you can also call Mobile Ärtze (Allschwil): +41 61 485 90 00.

Pharmacies

Wherever you are in Switzerland, to find open pharmacies or first aid centers, you can go online and enter your postcode on the ch.ch webpage. Emergency numbers are here: https://www.ch.ch/en/emergency-numbers-first-aid/

In Basel, the emergency pharmacy is located at Petersgraben 3 (opposite the university hospital) and it is always open outside regular opening hours (i.e. nights and weekends and bank holidays):

- Monday to Friday, 6.30 p.m. to 8 a.m.

- Saturday from 4 p.m. through to Monday, 8 a.m.

- Open round the clock on Sundays and bank holidays

The SBB railway station pharmacy is also open 365 days a year from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Babysitters

Drop your kid near Marktplatz (more precisely Gerbergasse 14) at Basler Kindernäscht for CHF 11.- an hour between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

Search for baby sitting offers on the online Marktplatz of the University of Basel. You should be able to quickly find an English-speaking babysitter on there.

If you understand a bit of German, check out the babysitting options of the Swiss Red Cross: https://www.srk-basel.ch/dienstleistungen/babysitter-vermittlung

And if you have time for some paperwork, get in touch with Profawo Basel.