Short answer
Healthcare here is quick and cheap once you're in the National Health Insurance (NHI) system. Most everyday care happens in small private clinics (診所) that you can walk into without an appointment. Both Hsinchu City and Zhubei have large hospitals with emergency departments. English varies a lot from doctor to doctor and is rarely available at the front desk, so the most useful thing you can do is find one clinic and one hospital department that work for you before you need them.
- Emergencies 119 for an ambulance or fire, 110 for the police. Both are free from any phone.
- Help in English The National Immigration Agency's Foreigners in Taiwan hotline is 1990 from a Taiwan phone.
- Insurance NHI covers most care. Who joins, and when, depends on your residence and job: see nhi.gov.tw.
- Bring Your NHI card to every visit, or your passport or ARC if you're not insured yet.
Hospitals in Hsinchu City and Zhubei
These are the general hospitals most people in the city and Zhubei use. NTUH, MacKay and Ton-Yen publish emergency department information on their websites; for the others, check directly.
| Hospital | Where | English on its website |
|---|---|---|
| NTUH Hsin-Chu Branch, Hsin-Chu Hospital (新竹臺大分院 新竹醫院) | North District, Hsinchu City: 25, Lane 442, Jingguo Road Section 1 | Yes, plus an international outpatient service (run from the Zhubei campus) |
| NTU BioMedical Park Hospital (新竹臺大分院 生醫醫院) | Zhubei: 2 Shengyi Road Section 1, in the Biomedical Science Park by the HSR station | Yes; home of the hospital's international outpatient service |
| Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital (新竹馬偕紀念醫院) | East District, Hsinchu City: 690 Guangfu Road Section 2 | The MacKay group's English site; no Hsinchu international service published |
| Hsinchu Cathay General Hospital (新竹國泰綜合醫院) | Hsinchu City: 678 Zhonghua Road Section 2 | No; the Hsinchu site is in Chinese |
| China Medical University Hsinchu Hospital (中國醫藥大學新竹附設醫院) | Zhubei: 199 Xinglong Road Section 1 | Yes, an English site |
| Ton-Yen General Hospital (東元綜合醫院) | Zhubei: 69 Xianzheng 2nd Road, near the Zhubei freeway interchange | Yes, an English site and an international medical center page |
National Taiwan University Hospital runs the Hsinchu branch on three campuses: the city hospital on Jingguo Road, the BioMedical Park Hospital in Zhubei, and a third campus in Zhudong (竹東). Its English site lists all three. Its international outpatient service, based at the Zhubei campus, books you in with a suitable specialist, can arrange translation, and asks international visitors to register with a passport or ARC. The hotline is +886-3-5330072. That service charges self-pay rates (a registration and administrative fee plus NT$1,500 per 30-minute consultation when we checked, more for psychiatry, with tests and medicine extra), so if you have NHI, ask whether you can use the regular clinics instead. The hospital's international medical center says its nurses can accompany foreign patients through a visit.
Ton-Yen's English pages list its specialty centers, including high-risk pregnancy and newborn care, a child development assessment center, and emergency trauma care, with an email address for enquiries. None of these hospitals publishes which doctors speak English; ask when you book.
Good to know: we can't promise English at any of these hospitals beyond what their own pages say. Some doctors are comfortable in English, but expect the registration desk, nurses and pharmacy to work in Mandarin. A Mandarin speaker on the phone, or a translation app, makes the first visit far easier.
Clinics: how a visit works
Small private clinics are the backbone of everyday care, and in Zhubei and East District you'll find several on most main roads: family medicine (家醫科), internal medicine (內科), pediatrics (小兒科), ear, nose and throat (耳鼻喉科), dermatology (皮膚科), obstetrics and gynecology (婦產科) and more. You choose the specialty yourself; there is no system of a registered family doctor you must see first.
- Check the clinic's session times. Most run morning, afternoon and evening sessions, and many close on Sunday or for one session midweek; the times are on the door and on Google Maps.
- Register at the desk with your NHI card (or passport or ARC if you're not insured). Many clinics also take bookings by phone, website or LINE, which saves the wait.
- Wait for your number on the screen, see the doctor, then pay at the desk: a registration fee (掛號費) set by the clinic, plus the NHI copayment.
- Medicine is usually handed over at the clinic itself, in labelled packets with the doses written on them. Ask the pharmacist to explain if the label is only in Chinese.
NHI: who is covered, and what you pay
Whether and when you join National Health Insurance depends on your situation. Under the National Health Insurance Act, a foreign national with a residence permit joins once they have lived in Taiwan for six months, or straight away if they are employed by an employer in Taiwan; babies born in Taiwan are covered too. Dependants, gaps between jobs and Gold Card holders each have their own rules, so check your case on the NHI Administration's site and with your employer. Our first 30 days checklist covers getting the card.
With NHI, you pay a copayment (部分負擔) at each visit, and it rises with the size of the hospital: the law sets your share of an outpatient bill at 20%, rising to 30% at a district hospital, 40% at a regional hospital and 50% at a medical center if you go without a referral from a clinic. In practice the NHIA turns this into fixed amounts, and hospitals add their own registration fee. As an example, NTUH Hsin-Chu Branch listed, for reference, a NT$150 registration fee and a NT$420 outpatient copayment (NT$170 with a referral), and NT$300 plus NT$750 at the emergency department. A clinic visit costs much less. If you forget your card, hospitals usually charge the full bill and refund it when you bring the card and receipt back; NTUH Hsin-Chu gives you 10 working days.
Without NHI, everything is self-pay (自費). It is still cheaper than in many countries, but keep receipts for your travel or international insurer.
Pharmacies
Community pharmacies (藥局) are everywhere, and many are NHI-contracted, so they can fill a prescription a doctor gives you, including repeat prescriptions for long-term conditions. They also sell over-the-counter medicines, and pharmacists are a good first stop for minor problems. Some medicines that are over the counter elsewhere need a prescription here, and the brand names differ: bring the generic name of anything you take regularly.
Dentists
Dentists work mostly from private dental clinics (牙醫診所). NHI generally covers routine treatment; implants, orthodontics, whitening and some materials are self-pay. Ask before treatment starts which parts are 自費 and what they cost. Children's dentistry is offered at many dental clinics; look for 兒童牙科.
Emergencies and after hours
Call 119 for an ambulance. Keep your address written in Chinese by the phone, and say it slowly. For anything less urgent at night or at the weekend, go to a hospital emergency department (急診), such as those at NTUH's two campuses, MacKay or Ton-Yen. Expect to be triaged; minor problems wait. NTUH's Hsin-Chu Hospital runs a children's emergency service. Clinics may close on typhoon days, so keep basic medicines at home through the season.
Safety: for suspected stroke, heart attack, severe bleeding or a child who is struggling to breathe, call 119 rather than driving yourself.
→ Your first 30 days · Families and schools · Living in Hsinchu
Sources: National Health Insurance Act, Articles 8, 9 and 43 (Ministry of Justice laws database, amended June 2023); National Immigration Agency (immigration.gov.tw) for the 1990 hotline; the hospitals' own sites: NTUH Hsin-Chu Branch (hch.gov.tw, including its English international outpatient and charges pages and international medical center page), Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital (hc.mmh.org.tw), Hsinchu Cathay General Hospital (hsinchu.cgh.org.tw), China Medical University Hsinchu Hospital (cmu-hch.cmu.edu.tw, cmuhch.org.tw), Ton-Yen General Hospital (tyh.com.tw). Fees change; the ones above are what the hospital published when we checked. This page is general information, not medical advice. Checked November 2026.