Healthcare for European students

  Stays up to 12 months

Students coming from EU countries can benefit from medical assistance in Italy thanks to the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC, in Italian “TEAM”) issued by the competent health institution in your country of residence. The EHIC must be valid abroad: please verify that the European medical assistance section is filled out with your personal data.

The EHIC gives you access to the National Health Service for “urgently needed medical treatments” during temporary stay: you can have free check-ups by all GPs, and you can access all hospitals and agreed clinics, laboratory and instrumental-diagnostic tests) by paying a fee, commonly called “ticket”. The general aim is to ensure assistance while you are staying in Italy.

The EHIC guarantees medical assistance for health issues occurred during your stay in Italy only; it does not cover the cost of private medical treatments.

Please check the EHIC expiry date before the departure and make sure to renew it on time in case of expiry during your stay in Italy.

If you do not have a EHIC, please contact the competent health institution in your country of residence before the departure

For scheduled treatments and elective care, it is necessary to have the S2 form issued by the responsible institution in your country of residence.

The EHIC of another EU country does not entitle to waivers, with the exception of a list of therapies periodically updated by the European Commission, including kidney dialysis, oxygen therapy, treatment of asthma, echocardiography  in case of autoimmune chronic diseases, chemotherapy etc.

If you wish to benefit from the same waivers you are entitled to in the country that issued the EHIC, you have to transfer your legal residence to Italy. Before doing that, you must collect the following documents issued by the health institution in your country of residence:

  • documentation certifying the medical condition
  • S1 form that entitles you to health care services on the same terms as Italian citizens, after the registration in the National Health Service, to be made either at ULSS 6 Desk at Palazzo Bo’ (by appointment at this link) or at the at the nearest Social Health District (Distretto Socio Sanitario), please see “Stays over 12 months” for further information on the registration

If you do not want to transfer your legal residence in Italy, you can have prescribed therapies and check-ups with "red prescription" by any GP thanks to the EHIC, but you cannot benefit from waivers (except from the previously mentioned cases) and you must pay for medical treatments.

If during your stay you need to undergo regular therapies, you must contact the hospital or clinic in Italy well in advance, in order to make sure that such therapies are available (for this purpose, a medical report must be provided).

  Stays over 12 months

If you stay in Italy for more than 12 months, we recommend that you transfer your legal residence to Italy.

To this end, the relevant health institution in your country of residence will have to issue the S1 form, which entitles you to receive the same medical assistance as an Italian citizen, and hand it in either at ULSS 6 Desk at Palazzo Bo’ (by appointment at this link) or the nearest Social Health District (Distretto Socio Sanitario).

If, for any reason, you cannot obtain the S1 form, you can voluntary register in the National Health Service. The voluntary registration entitles you to benefit the Italian healthcare services like Italian citizens do; it is valid for one calendar year (from 1st January to 31st December); the payment (€ 700,00) is not divisible and you cannot apply retroactively.

In order to  register in the National Health Service, you can either refer to the ULSS 6 Desk at Palazzo Bo’ (by appointment at this link) or to the nearest Social Health District (Distretto Socio Sanitario) of ULSS 6 Euganea:

Required documents

  • Italian tax code;
  • residence certificate, or certification of actual residence, or declaration of hospitality;
  • self-declaration of enrolment to a degree program;
  • self-declaration of not possessing other incomes than scholarships or subsidies;

For informations:  Sportello Universitario uniulss@aulss6.veneto.it

  Contacts

For information on how to use your EHIC and on S1 and S2 forms please refer to:

ULSS6 Euganea – Ufficio rapporti internazionali

Complesso Socio Sanitario ai Colli

Via Colli, 4 Padiglione 4

Email: rapinter@aulss6.veneto.it

Telephone: +39 049 821 4712 / 4069 / 4703

Special cases

  Double citizenship

Students who have a double citizenship including Italian can either transfer their residence in Italy in order to have access to the National Health Service, or have a private insurance cover.

For information on how to transfer your residence to Padova:

Municipality of Padova (Comune di Padova)

Ufficio anagrafe - Settore Servizi Demografici, Cimiteriali e Decentrati
Piazza dei Signori, 23 - 35139 Padova
Tel. 049 8205746
Email: cambi@comune.padova.itpavonet@comune.padova.it

How to get medical assistance

For further information please read the Guide to Health services released by the Veneto Region, which is available online in multiple languages: http://www.venetoimmigrazione.it/

  Medical emergency

If you need medical assistance and you have a EHIC, you can go for free to any General Practitioner (GP – in Italian "Medico di Medicina Generale" or "Medico di base") in any Social Health District (Distretto Socio Sanitario) of the ULSS n. 6. If you are registered in the Italian National Health Service (i.e. you have a "Tessera sanitaria"), you can go for free to the General Practitioner assigned. If you don't have the EHIC nor the "Tessera sanitaria" you will have to pay for the medical consultation (charges may vary depending on the doctor).

In case of severe emergency, you should go to the nearest Emergency Room (“Pronto Soccorso”) 

At the arrival, a code is assigned based on the urgency of your condition:

  • Red code: very critical, danger of death, highest priority, immediate access to healthcare;
  • Yellow code: averagely critical, advanced risk, possible danger of death;
  • Green code: little critical, no risks of worsening, treatment can be delayed;
  • White code: not critical, not urgent.

To access the Emergency Room you should bring with you:

  • ID or passport;
  • EHIC or the form released by the Social Health District (for students from countries with which Italy has an agreement only), or a valid private medical insurance, or the medical ID ("Tessera sanitaria", if registered in the National Health Service only).

The phone number for medical emergency is 118.

  Hospitals and emergencies

For emergencies only: 118

Contact Centre (for appointments)
tel.  840 000664
Mon - Fri 7.30 am - 5 pm

Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova (Main Hospital)
via Giustiniani 2
tel. +39 049 8211111 (switchboard)
tel. +39 049 8213200 (Public Relations Office)

Complesso socio-sanitario ai Colli
via dei Colli 4
tel. +39 049 8216811 (switchboard)

Ospedale Sant’Antonio
via Facciolati 71
tel. +39 049 8216511 (switchboard)

  General Practitioners (GPs)

With a valid EHIC , you can go for free to any General Practitioner (GP, in Italian: "Medico di Medicina Generale" or "Medico di base"), available during weekly opening hours for general medical check-up next to your accommodation. On the other hand, if you are registered in the Italian National Health System (i.e. you have a "Tessera sanitaria"), you can go for free to the general practitioner assigned. If you don't have the EHIC nor the "Tessera sanitaria" you will have to pay for the medical consultation (charges may vary depending on the doctor).

A General Practitioner can release prescriptions for medicines and referral for specialist treatment, as well as medical certificates (e.g. for VISA).

Database of GPs and Paediatricians (in Italian)

For sport medical certification, please refer to sport medical centres.

  Medication and pharmacies

Medications in Italy can be:

  • without any compulsory prescription: it means that they can be used for transitional problems or minor injuries without a prior medical diagnosis, prescription or surveillance. They are available at pharmacies, parapharmacies and some supermarkets.
  • subject to medical prescription: it means that they must be prescribed by a doctor.

If you use any medication, please verify the availability of the same medication in Italy before your arrival and bring with you the doctor's prescription.

Usually pharmacies follow the opening hours of all other shops (weekdays, roughly from 9 AM to 7 PM). If you need to access a pharmacy in the evening or weekends, there are pharmacies available 24/7, including public holidays, based on a shift calendar: 

http://www.ordinefarmacistipadova.it

  Specialist consultations and diagnostic examinations

In order to see a specialist, you will need a prescription from a GP, then you have to book an appointment at CUP - Centro Unico Prenotazioni:

  • District 1 – Via E. Degli Scrovegni, 12 – Padova – from Monday to Friday, from 7.30 AM to 12.30 PM and from 2 to 6.30 PM
  • Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova – Via Giustiniani, 2, at the top of “Pronto Soccorso”, from Monday to Friday, from 7.30 AM to 7 PM

When booking the appointment, please pay attention to the address where it will take place, as the appointment might be assigned to a hospital or clinic outside Padova.

Specialist consultations and diagnostic examinations in Italy are subject to a fee (commonly called “ticket”), unless being waiver beneficiary.

  Vaccinations

Vaccinations for travel or VISA application purposes are subject to a fee. You should refer to:

Servizio di Igiene e Sanità Pubblica (S.I.S.P.)
Via Ospedale, 22 – Padova (PD)
Tel. 049 8214239
Email: sisp.ulss16aulss6.veneto.it

For scheduled paediatric vaccinations, please refer to the Centro Vaccinazioni Pediatriche (Paediatric Vaccination Centre):

SS CF EE - Pediatria di Comunità
Sede Centrale Vaccinazioni
Via Boccaccio 80 - 35128 Padova (PD)
Opening hours: Monday and Wednesday, from 2.30 to 5 PM; Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 12 to 1.30 PM
Tel. 049 8217406
Email: vaccinazioni.d1.boccaccio@aulss6.veneto.it