Healthcare in Lithuania — Complete Guide (2026)

Are You Covered?

Everything follows from this. Lithuania's public healthcare is funded by PSD — privalomasis sveikatos draudimas, compulsory health insurance — and whether you're in it depends on your status, not simply on living here.

Not covered doesn't mean not treated. Anyone can access Lithuanian healthcare. The difference is who pays. If you're PSD-covered, treatment in the public system is largely covered. If you're not, you can still register and be seen — you simply pay the clinic's own rates yourself. And emergency care is provided regardless of status.

How PSD Works

PSD is collected alongside Sodra social contributions. If you're employed, it's simply part of what comes off your gross salary.

The 6.98% sits inside the total 19.5% employee contribution — it isn't an additional deduction. Our salary calculator shows exactly how it comes off a gross figure.

If you're resident but outside the system, you can self-pay PSD at €80.48 per month in 2026 (6.98% of the €1,153 minimum wage). Students usually compare that against a private medical-expenses policy, which Lithuanian insurers price by individual quote rather than publishing — see our student health insurance guide.

Registering With a Family Doctor

Being covered isn't the same as being registered. You need to attach yourself to a primary care clinic and choose a family doctor (šeimos gydytojas) before you can use the system properly.

1. Choose a clinic near you

   A public poliklinika or a private primary care clinic. Proximity matters more than you'd think — you'll go there for everything.

2. Register in person or online

   At the clinic reception, or through the national e-health portal at esveikata.lt.

3. Bring ID

   Passport, ID card, or your Lithuanian residence permit. Your asmens kodas identifies you in the system.

4. Pick a family doctor from the available list

   The clinic will tell you which doctors are taking patients. If English matters to you, ask before choosing.

5. Sign the registration form

   That's it. You're now attached to that doctor.

Do this before you're ill. Registration is quick and free, but doing it while unwell — in a language you may not speak, at a clinic you've never visited — is miserable. It's a twenty-minute job in your first month that saves you a bad day later.

Registering settles more than which building you walk into when something goes wrong. The doctor you sign up with also controls your route to everything else in the public system.

Your family doctor is the gatekeeper

Lithuania runs a referral system. In the public system you generally can't book a specialist directly — you see your family doctor, who refers you onward. This surprises people from countries where you simply call a specialist. Plan for the extra step, and don't expect to skip it by turning up at a hospital.

The E-Health System

Lithuania is genuinely good at digital government, and healthcare is a strong example. The national portal at esveikata.lt, with an accompanying mobile app, lets you:

• View your health records and history
• Check e-prescriptions — prescriptions are digital and collected at any pharmacy
• Book appointments with medical professionals
• Manage referrals to specialists
• Register with a clinic

Set it up early. Once you're registered and using the portal, most routine interaction with the system happens without a phone call.

Using the System Day to Day

Appointments. Book through esveikata.lt, the clinic's own system, or by phone. Waiting times for a family doctor are usually reasonable; specialist waits are where the public system strains.

Referrals. Your family doctor refers you to specialists. Keep the referral — you'll need it.

Your asmens kodas is your identifier. It's on your residence permit card. Bring the card.

Waiting times are the main complaint. Non-urgent specialist appointments can take a while. This is precisely what people buy top-up private insurance to avoid.

Hospitals. Vilnius and Kaunas have large university hospitals with good reputations, including the teaching hospital attached to LSMU. Standards in the major cities are solid.

Dentistry. Largely private in practice, and paid for out of pocket. Lithuanian dental care is well regarded and considerably cheaper than Western Europe — enough that dental tourism exists.

Public vs Private

Many people who are fully PSD-covered also use private clinics. That isn't a contradiction — they're buying speed and language, not better medicine.

A common pattern among foreign residents: rely on PSD for anything serious, and pay privately for routine appointments where waiting or language would be a nuisance.

What Things Cost

What three clinics publish

There is no market average for private care in Lithuania, so treat a quoted national average as invented. Below are three clinics' own price lists, each priced as its owner prints it. Compare across them; do not blend them.

SG Klinika — Klaipėda, Mažeikiai, Palanga and Plungė. This is the only one of the three that dates its own list: valid from 1 May 2026.

• Cardiology €80 · ophthalmology €89 · neurology €89–99
• Psychiatry €75 · dermatology €79–89 · endocrinology €50
• ENT €49 · surgery €59
• sgklinika.lt price list

AND Klinika — Vilnius. Undated. Prices are given as first visit, then follow-up.

• Family doctor €45 / €35
• Dermatology €80 / €50
• Cardiology €95 / €50
• andklinika.lt price list

Northway — undated. GP consultation €60; the dental figures in the table above come from the same list. Remote consultations are priced separately: family doctor €49, general specialist €70, dermatologist €120, obstetrician-gynaecologist €55.

Only SG Klinika tells you when its prices took effect. The other two lists are undated and may have moved since. Ring the clinic you would actually use before budgeting.

Pharmacies and Prescriptions

Pharmacies (vaistinė) are plentiful, and pharmacists are generally helpful and often speak some English or Russian.

• Prescriptions are digital. Your doctor issues an e-prescription; you collect it at any pharmacy using your ID. No paper to lose.
• Many medicines are partially reimbursed under the compulsory insurance system — how much depends on the medicine and your situation.
• Bring your ID card. You need it to collect an e-prescription.
• Some medicines available over the counter elsewhere require a prescription here, and vice versa. If you take something regularly, check availability before you move and bring documentation of your prescription.

Language

Public clinics operate primarily in Lithuanian. Russian is widely spoken, particularly by older medical staff — if your Russian is good, you'll manage comfortably in most Vilnius and Kaunas clinics.

English is less consistent in the public system, though common among younger doctors. Private clinics in Vilnius and Kaunas are considerably more likely to offer English-speaking doctors, and for many foreign residents that alone justifies a top-up policy.

When registering, ask which family doctors speak English before choosing one. It costs nothing to ask at the point of registration and it's much harder to change later. If you're bringing a chronic condition, get your existing records translated before you arrive.

Emergencies

Call 112. It's the EU-wide emergency number, free from any phone, works without a SIM card or credit, and operators speak English.

• Emergency care is provided regardless of insurance status. Nobody is turned away from an emergency because their paperwork isn't sorted.
• Hospital emergency departments handle urgent cases. For non-urgent problems, use your family doctor — turning up at A&E won't shortcut the referral system.
• Carry your ID. Your residence permit card or passport, with your asmens kodas.
• If you're uninsured, you may be billed afterwards. That's a strong argument for sorting cover early rather than gambling.

Common Mistakes

Waiting until you're ill to register with a doctor

Registration is quick and free, but doing it while unwell, in a language you may not speak, at a clinic you've never visited, is a bad experience. Do it in your first month.

Expecting to book a specialist directly

The public system runs on referrals — your family doctor sends you onward. Turning up expecting to see a specialist without one is a common source of frustration for arrivals used to booking specialists themselves.

Assuming "not covered" means "not treated"

Anyone can be seen in the Lithuanian system. If you're not PSD-covered you simply pay the clinic's own rates yourself rather than being turned away.

Going to A&E for non-urgent problems

Hospital emergency departments are for urgent cases. Non-urgent issues go through your family doctor — turning up at A&E doesn't shortcut the referral system.

Not asking about English before you choose a doctor

It costs nothing to ask at registration which family doctors speak English, and it's much harder to change afterwards.

Forgetting your ID at the pharmacy

Prescriptions are digital — your doctor issues one electronically, but you still need ID to collect it at any pharmacy.

Frequently Asked Questions

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