Emergency number in Switzerland: 144, 112 and 1414

The emergency numbers in Switzerland

Since July 2026, the Swiss telecommunications ordinance has named four emergency services with their own short numbers: the European emergency number, the police, the fire brigade and the medical emergency number. Telephone providers must give free access to them from every connection.⁸²

The ordinance now treats help lines such as 143 and 145 as a separate category of help and counselling services, and 1414 as a short number for air rescue rather than one of the four emergency services. All of them are free to call.⁸²

144 or 112?

112 works in Switzerland, but it is not the most direct route to an ambulance. The centre that receives a 112 call forwards it to the competent service, and the Organisation Notrufe Schweiz accepts that this may cost time; it recommends communicating 117, 118 and 144 instead.³

In the canton of Bern, for example, 112 calls are taken directly by the police, assessed and passed on to the responsible service; police, ambulance and fire dispatchers work in the same room.¹²

British travel advice names both numbers, and the European Commission tells visitors with a European Health Insurance Card to call 144.¹³¹⁴ For a medical emergency, 144 is the number to save.

What happens when you call 144

A call to 144 is answered by the medical emergency call centre for your region. In 2024, 93.9 percent of calls to 144 were answered within 10 seconds.¹⁵

1. 01

   Where you are

   The call-taker first needs the location and a number to call you back. Mobile emergency calls transmit the caller’s location automatically.¹⁶¹

2. 02

   What happened

   Recognised centres question callers in a structured way: what happened, how many people are affected, their age, and whether they are conscious and breathing.⁹¹⁶

3. 03

   Help on the phone

   The same rules require first-aid instructions by telephone. In Zurich, call-takers guide callers until the rescuers arrive, from chest compressions to helping with a birth.⁹¹⁷

4. 04

   Dispatch

   The centre sends the nearest suitable resource, a helicopter included; the target is to dispatch within 180 seconds of taking the call in 90 percent of the most urgent cases.⁹

5. 05

   First responders

   In Basel, for example, the centre also alerts trained first responders nearby for a suspected cardiac arrest, through the app First Responder BS/BL.¹⁸

Keep your voicemail switched off, so the centre can call you back.¹⁶ Outside Valais, if a helicopter is needed, the 144 centre requests one from Rega, whose operations centre sends the most suitable helicopter, whoever operates it.¹⁹

We found no official statement that calls are answered in English. Zurich, for example, requires its call-takers to speak a second national language or English.²⁰ Give the location first, clearly, and stay on the line.

How quickly help arrives

The guideline of the Interverband für Rettungswesen (IVR), the Swiss umbrella body for rescue services, is arrival within 15 minutes in 90 percent of the most urgent missions in a service’s area, and services should work towards 10 minutes.⁵ In 2021, the cantons’ health directors urged the cantons to follow the IVR’s guidelines.²¹

Nationally, the 15-minute mark was met in 85.4 percent of urgent missions in 2024, against 85.0 percent in 2023, and so below the 90 percent the guideline sets.⁶

Rega says its 14 helicopter bases are placed so that a crew can reach any location in Switzerland within 15 minutes of flying.²³

In the mountains: 1414, and 144 in Valais

Rega advises calling 1414 directly when a rescue helicopter can reach a casualty faster than any other means, for example after a fall from height, with several casualties or with a seriously injured or ill child.²⁴

The Rega app sends the caller’s coordinates automatically and connects to the operations centre, but it is offered only in the Swiss, Liechtenstein, German, Austrian, Italian and French app stores.²⁵

In Valais, 144 reaches the cantonal rescue organisation KWRO, which coordinates the ambulances and helicopters, including those of Air Zermatt.⁴²⁶ Rega also keeps a crew at Sion airport, on standby around the clock.²⁷

From abroad, Rega is reached on +41 333 333 333; with a foreign SIM card in Switzerland, dial 1414 without an area code.⁴

Avalanches

The chance of recovering a completely buried person alive is highest in the first 15 minutes, so companion rescue comes first; without a phone connection, start searching at once and raise the alarm later. The standard kit is a transceiver, a probe and a shovel.²⁸ In winter, the avalanche bulletin of the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is published daily at 17:00.²⁹

Who pays for an ambulance or a helicopter

Swiss basic health insurance pays only part of an emergency: half of a rescue in Switzerland and half of a medically necessary transport, each up to a limit per calendar year.⁷ Accident insurance pays more.³⁰³¹

What a mission costs depends on the canton and the provider. Basel-Stadt, for example, set a provisional flat rate of CHF 800 per primary ambulance mission from January 2026, plus charges that depend on the level of medical care.³² Rega puts the average helicopter mission at around CHF 4,500; complex searches or avalanche missions can cost several tens of thousands of francs, and as a rule the rescued person or their insurer pays.²⁵

Rega patronage

Rega is a non-profit foundation, not an insurer.³³ Adults become patrons from CHF 40 a year, and children and young people are free. Where no insurer or other third party is liable, Rega can waive or reduce the cost of a mission for its patrons, at its own discretion and without a legal obligation.³⁴

Visitors can become patrons too, and then benefit for air rescue within Switzerland; repatriation flights are reserved for patrons living in Switzerland or Liechtenstein and for Swiss nationals abroad.³⁵³⁴ Patronage also applies to missions of Air Zermatt and Air-Glaciers, under a reciprocal agreement.³³ In 2025, Rega carried out 20,463 missions and transported 13,168 people, about 36 a day.³⁶

Visitors: EHIC, GHIC and travel insurance

Visitors insured in the EU, EFTA or the UK are entitled to medically necessary treatment with the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).³⁷ They pay a flat CHF 92 per 30 days as adults or CHF 33 as children, plus CHF 15 for each day in hospital.³⁸ Ambulance and rescue costs are covered only at 50 percent up to the same annual limits, the rest cannot be refunded in Switzerland, and doctors usually have to be paid first.¹⁴

A UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) can be used in Switzerland only by certain groups, such as British, Swiss or EU nationals, and it covers neither ski or mountain rescue nor medical repatriation.³⁹ British travel advice adds that neither card replaces travel insurance.¹³

Visitors from other countries must arrange adequate cover themselves, and travellers who need a Schengen visa must hold private medical insurance with a minimum cover of EUR 30,000.³⁷ The published costs of a flight home are set out in our guide to air ambulance costs.

Before you travel: a short checklist

1. Save 144 and 1414 in every phone, and know that 112 also works but is forwarded.¹⁴³
2. In Valais, call 144 for a helicopter too.⁴
3. If your app store offers it, install the Rega app before you go into the mountains.²⁵
4. Keep your voicemail switched off, so the emergency centre can call you back.¹⁶
5. Check what your insurance pays for rescue, helicopters and repatriation, and carry your EHIC or travel insurance details.⁷¹³
6. Before going off-piste, read the avalanche bulletin and carry a transceiver, a probe and a shovel.²⁹²⁸

How Shadow ICU arranges a doctor on call for a stay in Switzerland, and an air ambulance when a patient has to be flown, is described on its service pages.