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Longyearbyen hospital

The hospital in Longyearbyen is an emergency medical hospital. Unlike hospitals on the mainland, Longyearbyen Hospital provides both primary and specialist health services. During the day, Longyearbyen Hospital is a doctor's office for the residents of Svalbard. The hospital also provides health services to everyone who travels on and around the archipelago and the adjacent sea areas in the Barents Sea.

We offer:

  • Doctor's appointment.
  • Urgent care.
    Acute conditions that cannot be treated are transferred to the University Hospital in Tromsø (UNN) or another relevant hospital on the mainland.
    For surgery, we only offer life-saving stabilisation before the patient is transferred to the mainland. This depends on the availability of a surgeon.
  • Dentist's appointment. A dental hygienist is present 2-4 times a year and an orthodontist 3-5 times a year.
  • Child health clinic. The midwife is responsible for the follow-up of pregnant women and children under school age. Public health nurses supervise schoolchildren.
  • Physiotherapy.
  • Regular X-ray.
  • Plastering for fracture injuries that do not require surgical intervention.

The hospital cannot issue all types of health certificates (e.g. diving certificate, polar bear watch, guide), but helps with some certificates that are job-related, e.g. driving licence.

Svalbard only offers limited health services. 

Longyearbyen Hospital has fewer services than other Norwegian hospitals. Pay particular attention to the following:

  • No psychologists.
  • No delivery room.
  • No CT or MRI.
  • Limited possibilities for medical examination (we have the equivalent of what you can get from your family doctor/emergency room on the mainland.)
  • No scheduled operations.

The transfer of emergency patients to the mainland by air ambulance depends on weather and available aircraft. 

Norwegian citizens:

Automatic members of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme and have full rights in the welfare system.

  • Paid according to standard deductibles. An overview of user fees can be found online: helsenorge.no
  • Ordinary exemption card rights. (Exemption cards via HELFO are also valid on Svalbard.)
  • Ordinary rights for Patient Travel: Travel, board and lodging are covered at government rates. (Link here)
  • Have the right to referral to the mainland for health services not provided on Svalbard.

Non-Norwegian citizens with a Norwegian employer:

  • Pay the ordinary user fee as mentioned above.
  • Have ordinary rights via Patient Travel as mentioned above.

Tourists and non-Norwegian citizens without a Norwegian employer

Must pay for the consultation/service in full. (This applies e.g. to self-employed permanent residents without a Norwegian passport.)

PLEASE NOTE! Please note that Svalbard is outside Schengen, which may mean that European travel insurance does not cover expenses at the same level as on mainland Norway.

You are defined as a permanent resident of Svalbard when you are registered in the National Population Register as living on Svalbard with a planned stay of longer than six months. 

You are considered a visitor if the stay is shorter than six months. 

Contact

Phone

Emergency number

113

Midwife / Public health nurse

79 02 42 20

Phone: Public health nurse Svalbard

79 02 42 21

Mobil public health nurse Svalbard

468 53 791

Dentist Svalbard

79 02 42 30

Physiotherapist / manual therapist Svalbard

79 02 42 26

Postal adress Svalbard

Postboks 314
9171 Longyearbyen

E-mail

post@unn.no