healthcare for international students
Health care in Australia
Australia has an excellent health care system and is known for its high-quality health services.
Health insurance for international students
It’s a condition of your student visa that you buy Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) before coming to Australia and ensure you’re covered for the length of your stay.
You’ll then be covered for:
- health services from a doctor (also called a general practitioner or ‘GP’)
- some hospital services
- ambulance cover
- some pharmaceuticals (medicines).
Keep your OSHC card with you always because you’ll need to show it to your healthcare provider whenever you need treatment or health care.
Before you make an appointment with a healthcare provider
Before you make an appointment with any healthcare provider, check with your OSHC provider to see which clinics, doctors and hospitals closest to you they have an arrangement with so you know your payments will be covered or what your ‘gap’ payment will be. Or check directly with the healthcare provider to find out how much you’ll be expected to pay.
Seeing a doctor in Australia
Doctors who provide everyday care are called ‘general practitioners’ or GPs. Visit a GP at a medical centre for non-emergency treatment and medical care. GPs can provide ‘referrals’ to specialist doctors if your health issue requires specialist care. You can’t book an appointment directly with a specialist. You must get a referral from a GP first.
There are medical centres close to our campuses in Chermisde in Queesland and Sydney Olympic Park in New South Wales. There’s sure to be a medical clinic close to your accommodation, too. Search Google using your suburb name and ‘medical centre’.
Dentists
You can see a dentist by making an appointment directly with the dental surgery. If you have ‘extras’ cover with your OSHC, then your payments might be covered. If not, you’ll have to pay for dental treatment.
You can easily find a dentist close to you by searching for your suburb name and ‘dentist’ on Google. Some medical clinics in Australia partner with dentists and offer dental services from these medical clinics.
Before making an appointment, find out what the costs will be and check with your OSHC provider to find out if they have any arrangements with dentists.
Hospital
Your OSHC will cover emergency hospital treatment and stays, and emergency ambulance services.
If you need ‘elective’ (non-emergency) surgery while in Australia, speak to your OSHC provider about which hospitals and services you’ll be covered for and what costs you might be expected to pay.
To find out more about hospitals, see the Australian Government’s MyHospitals website:
Mental health and wellbeing
At Kirana Colleges, we care about the health and welfare of our students.
As a student of Kirana Colleges and even if you’re on a student visa, you’re eligible for free and confidential counselling services to help with your mental health and well-being. You have access to a counselling hotline, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We also offer three, free counselling sessions either in person or via Skype.
To speak to a counsellor now, call 1800 71 94 01 or contact us in the left hand side menu
If your situation is an emergency, please call Triple Zero (000) immediately.
See our page on Emergencies for more information on mental health services.