Pharmacies and Hospitals in Rio – A Guide

What if you need service from one of the hospitals in Rio, where should you go? Which pharmacies are best and how can I get my medicine? What diseases are there and where is best to get vaccinated? What if you want to take a blood exam? Well all this I have covered on this page.

English, Spanish and French Speaking Doctors

I think that the best place to go is Clinica Galdino Campos, experienced and specialized in travel medicine. They are located in Copacabana Av. N. S. Copacabana 492 in Copacabana map, tel 2548-9966. Will prepare all the paperwork you need to get reimbursed by your insurance company.

Hospitals in Rio

To start with I have to mention the fact that you have to know your health insurance. Some hospitals offer free medical care to some countries, if you want to know this you have to find out on your own. With your health insurance you will be able to receive a certain amount of the money you´ve spent so save those receipts.

UPA´s
These are pre-hospital units you can go if in an emergency. Clean, neat and totally free. The one in Copacabana is right in front of one of the exits from the Metrô on Rua Rua Siqueira Campos 129. The one in Botafogo is on Rua São Clemente with Rua Nelson Mandela 10, also close to the Metrô station. These are open 24h.

Public Hospitals in Rio
For emergencies the public hospitals are also free and you can actually as a foreigner get emergency treatment without cost! What´s the catch? The public hospitals are so crowded so unless your limbs are falling off you’ll have to wait a long, long time. Then the private hospitals are a better bet, here’s a list of hospitals:

– Hospital Municipal Souza Aguiar, Praça da República 111, Centro map, tel 3111-2600/3111-2729
– Hospital Municipal Miguel Couto, R. Mário Ribeiro 117, Gávea map, tel 3111-3600/3111-3610/3111-3712
– Hospital Municipal Lourenço Jorge, Av. Ayrton Senna 2000, Barra da Tijuca map, tel 3111-4600/3111-4668

Private hospitals in Rio (the three first are the most expensive ones)
– Copa Dór, R. Figueiredo de Magalhães 875, Copacabana map, tel 2545-3600
– Quinta Dór, R. Almirante Baltazar 435, São Cristóvão map, tel 3461-3600
– Barra Dór, Av. Ayrton Senna 2541, Barra da Tijuca map, tel 2430-3600
– Sao Lucas, Travessa Frederico Pamplona 32, Copacabana map, tel 2545-4000
– Hospital Samaritano, R. Bambina 98, Botafogo map, tel 3537-9722 Emergency 2535-4000
– CardioTrauma Ipanema, R. Farme de Amoedo 86, Ipanema map, tel 2525-1900

Pharmacies in Rio

There is no shortage of pharmacies in Rio. They are very frivolous with medicine and you can quite easily buy medicine without a doctor’s prescription. That is of course very dangerous, only if you know exactly what you want it’s a good idea. There are lots of generic options available, generic being an almost identical copy of the patented medicine albeit slightly weaker. Even though all pharmacies should have a pharmacist working at all times this is rare, in other words the guys working have no proper education and should not be councelled. There are many chains of pharmacies, some of the more renown are:

– Drogaria Pacheco
– Droga Raia
– Drogaria Pop

To get the best price it’s advisable to compare prices between the different pharmacies.

The following are open 24h and you can actually call them to make a delivery:
– Drogaria Pacheco Av. Nossa Senhora de Copacabana 534, Copacabana map, tel 2256-2885
– Apolo Av. Nossa Senhora de Copacabana 1212 (on the corner of R. Souza Lima), Copacabana map, tel 2247-9604
– Farmácia do Leme Av. Prado Junior 237, Copacabana map, tel 2275-3847
– City Farma Leblon R. Dias Ferreira 618, Leblon map, tel 2540-7888/2274-0497
– Farma Hall R. Humaitá 95, Humaitá/Botafogo map, tel 2266-6060

Diseases and Vaccinations

The standard advice for Rio is to have your Hepatitis shots, other than that there is not much you need to do. There are no diseases in Rio that your standard protection wouldn’t handle.

Dangerous Diseases
Dengue fever spread by mosquitoes is a growing problem and it can be lethal, but there is no vaccine. The symtoms are pain in the joints, high fever, sometimes pain behind the eyes and headache (you feel awful, trust me I know). If you catch the worst form you will actually start to bleed internally and blood will appear in feaces, urin and your nose. If you suspect dengue you must under no circumstances use any salicylate drugs like Aspirin to get the fever down. The doctors here almost always prescribe Tylenol but if you suspect dengue you should see a doctor and also take a blood exam. It’s important for the doctors to know if you have history of dengue if you catch it another time.
HIV Rio hasn’t had a lot of this virus. All this is changing, the practice of unprotected sex is very common and the HIV rate is constantly growing. Always protect yourself!

Vaccinations

If you need a vaccination, maybe you are travelling on to another place? Here are some places to get your shots, the hospitals in Rio does not offer this service:

Yellow Fever Since this disease is still a problem in some parts of Brazil it´s for free in some public clinics, even for foreigneres. Just bring your passport to the place below.
– Saúde dos Portos – Setor de Vacinação R. México 128, Centro map, tel 2240-3568, open Mon-Fri 9h/12h 14h/16h.

All other – Private Clinics (call first to confirm they have the vaccine you need in stock)
– Prophylaxis Av. Visconde de Piraja 330/1005, Ipanema map, tel 2521-0968/2287-3897, open Mon-Fri 8:30h/19h sat 9h/14h.
– Prophylaxis R. Siqueira Campos 59/302, Copacabana map, tel 3816-8012/2256-2450, open Mon-Fri 8:30h/19h Sat 9h/13h.
– Prophylaxis R. Dois de dezembro 78/608, Largo do Machado map, tel 3285-9259/3285-9260/3285-9268, open Mon-Fri 9h/19h Sat 9h/13h.
– Provacina Edifício Medical Center, R. Siqueira Campos 93/606, Copacabana map, tel 2255-1403/2236-6613, open Mon-Fri 8h/18h sat 8h/14h.
– Vacine S/C Ltda Rua Voluntários da Pátria 445/206, Botafogo map, tel 2579-0388

Blood Exams

Taking a blood exam is sometimes necessary. The easy way to do is just to go to one of the Sergio Franco laboratories close to you. These labs are modern and fast. They also make feaces/urine exams and provide some vaccine shots.