30 Jun The City of Sapporo has established the Medical Communication Hotline

Sapporo Medical Communication Hotline

Foreign residents of Sapporo, have you ever experienced these concerns?

 ・I need to see a doctor, but I don’t know which hospital I should go to.

・I don’t know if I’d be able to make a hospital appointment in Japanese.

・Will I be able to make myself understood in the hospital, or understand what the staff is saying?

→ To help you manage these concerns, the City of Sapporo has established the Medical Communication Hotline.

● Free-of-charge services
● No registration needed
● Multiple languages are available
Call 011-211-2121

What services does it provide?

 ・A telephone operator will interpret for you when making appointments or inquires with hospitals within the City of Sapporo.

・Phone interpretation can be provided when talking to doctors or other medical staff at the hospital.

・Volunteer interpreters (only for English and Chinese) can accompany you to the hospital.

・These services are free-of-charge (will not cost you anything).

* However, in-person interpretation is not free for people living outside of Hokkaido (a fee will be charged for that service if you are not a resident of Hokkaido).

* Telephone charges when using phone interpretation will be at your own expense.

What languages are available?

・For making appointments or inquiries with a hospital, or for phone interpretation services while you are at a hospital, interpretation is available in the following languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, Tagalog, Nepali, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Burmese, Khmer, Mongolian, Sinhala, Hindi, Bengali

・On-site interpretation by a volunteer interpreter is available for the following languages: English and Chinese

For further information click here. hotline_R5_en

Based on the information from Sapporo City

Last reviewed on Jun.30, 2023