Before you start

Residence permit
Employment contract, for employer-arranged medical aid
Proof of address for scheme registration
Records of pre-existing conditions and current medication

Step-by-step

1
Join a medical aid scheme rather than relying on the public system
Non-citizens pay a per-consultation fee at public facilities plus charges for services, and waiting times are long. Employers of foreign professionals normally provide or subsidise a medical aid scheme; if yours does not, join one directly.
Via employerWho: YouWeek 1
2
Read the South African referral cover specifically
Ask what the scheme pays for treatment in South Africa, whether pre-authorisation is required, whether it covers the transport, and what the annual limit is. For specialist care this is the most-used benefit in the policy and the least-read section of it.
Via employerWho: You
3
Check the waiting periods and pre-existing condition rules
Medical aid schemes here apply waiting periods on joining and exclusions for pre-existing conditions in the same way South African schemes do. If you have an ongoing condition, get the terms in writing before you rely on the cover.
In personWho: You
4
Register with a private GP in Gaborone
Do it before you are ill. Private practices are concentrated around the CBD, the Village and the main malls, and a doctor who already has your history is worth a great deal when a referral decision has to be made quickly.
In personWho: YouMonth 1
5
Carry a supply of any regular medication
Botswana declared a public health emergency in August 2025 over shortages of essential medicines in the public supply chain, and while deliveries resumed and international support followed, the episode is a reason not to assume a specific drug will be on a shelf. Bring a buffer supply and ask your pharmacy about consistent availability of anything you take daily.
In personWho: You
6
Know the emergency numbers and the private ambulance options
999 for police, 997 for ambulance, 998 for fire. Private emergency medical services also operate in Gaborone and are what many medical aid schemes use. Get your scheme's emergency number and put it in your phone next to the public ones.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Medical aid membership card and benefit schedule
Residence permit
Records of pre-existing conditions and prescriptions
Vaccination records
Scheme's emergency and pre-authorisation numbers

Things most newcomers don’t know

For serious or specialist care, the realistic answer is often South Africa, and your scheme decides how that goes.

Botswana's health system is decent for a country of its size but it is a country of two and a half million people, and complex oncology, cardiac surgery, neurosurgery and some paediatric specialties are routinely referred to Johannesburg or Pretoria. Whether that is a smooth pre-authorised transfer or an expensive scramble depends entirely on what your medical aid plan says about cross-border treatment. Read that section before you need it — it is the part of the policy foreign residents here actually use.

Source: community-reported

Non-citizens pay materially more at public facilities than citizens do.

Botswana's user-fee policy has long charged citizens and permanent residents a nominal amount covering unlimited consultations for a period, while non-citizens and private patients pay a per-consultation fee plus charges for each service. It is not prohibitive but it removes the assumption that the public system is a free fallback. Combined with waiting times, it is why essentially every foreign professional here carries medical aid.

Source: published health policy research

The 2025 medicine shortage was real and is a reason to carry a buffer of anything you take daily.

In August 2025 the President declared a public health emergency over shortages of essential medicines caused by problems in the central medical stores supply chain, affecting treatment for hypertension, diabetes, cancer, tuberculosis and mental health among others. Deliveries resumed within weeks and international support followed, including a World Bank health resilience project approved in January 2026. The lesson is not that Botswana is unsafe; it is that supply-chain fragility is real and a two-month buffer of a chronic medication costs nothing.

Source: Government of Botswana; World Bank

Medical aid here works like a South African scheme, waiting periods and all.

Botswana's schemes follow the South African medical aid model rather than a European insurance one: benefit categories, annual limits, savings portions, pre-authorisation for procedures, waiting periods on joining and exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Anyone arriving from a national health system will find the structure unfamiliar and the exclusions consequential. Read the benefit schedule properly in week one, when you can still choose a different plan.

Source: community-reported