Before you start

International health insurance with medical evacuation, including helicopter rescue if you trek
Passport and visa for registration
Vaccination records — typhoid, hepatitis A and rabies discussion before arrival
A HEPA air purifier, bought before December

Step-by-step

1
Check the evacuation clause specifically, including altitude
For general medical evacuation, complex care in Nepal frequently means Delhi or Bangkok. Separately, if you trek, your policy must cover helicopter rescue and it must state the altitude limit — cover to 6,000 m is the standard benchmark. A policy that covers 'medical evacuation' without an altitude clause may not cover a helicopter off a trail.
OnlineWho: YouBefore arrival
2
Register at CIWEC
CIWEC in Lazimpat is a travel-medicine hospital with international standing in altitude illness and travellers' diarrhoea, staffed by physicians experienced in exactly the conditions foreigners in Nepal get. It was the first clinic in a developing country selected by the International Society of Travel Medicine for its global surveillance programme. It is where the international community goes first.
In personWho: YouMonth 1
3
Identify Norvic or Grande for anything beyond primary care
Norvic International in Thapathali and Grande International in Dhapasi are the main private hospitals used by foreign residents, with English-speaking staff and, at Norvic, direct billing arrangements with a range of international insurers. Check whether your insurer has a direct-billing relationship before you need one.
In personWho: You
4
Discuss vaccination properly before arrival
Typhoid and hepatitis A are the standard recommendations for Nepal, and rabies pre-exposure is worth a serious conversation given the street dog population and the distance to reliable post-exposure treatment outside the valley. Do this with a travel medicine doctor rather than assuming your childhood schedule covers it.
In personWho: YouBefore arrival
5
Buy air purifiers before the inversion season
From December to March the valley traps vehicle emissions, brick kiln smoke and construction dust under an inversion, and Kathmandu has appeared among the world's most polluted cities during that window. Size the purifier for the bedroom and buy spare filters. The air clears dramatically with the pre-monsoon rains.
OnlineWho: YouBy November
6
Programme the three emergency numbers
Nepal has no single combined emergency line — police is 100, fire is 101 and ambulance is 102, with traffic police on 103. Private ambulance services in the valley are often faster than the public ones, and CIWEC and the major hospitals run their own. Have your hospital's direct number saved alongside the national ones.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Insurance policy and card, with the evacuation and altitude clauses confirmed
Passport and visa
Vaccination records
Generic-name prescription list for ongoing medication
Your hospital's direct emergency number

Things most newcomers don’t know

Helicopter rescue cover with a stated altitude limit is the insurance clause that matters most in Nepal.

General 'medical evacuation' cover and helicopter rescue from a trekking route are not the same product. If you intend to trek at all — and most people who move to Kathmandu eventually do — the policy needs to cover helicopter rescue and to state the altitude to which it applies, with cover to 6,000 m the usual benchmark. Nepal has also had documented problems with unnecessary helicopter evacuations billed to insurers, which has made insurers stricter about the terms. Read the clause rather than the summary.

Source: community-reported; insurer terms

CIWEC is a genuinely unusual institution for a city this size.

CIWEC is a travel-medicine hospital in Lazimpat with international standing in altitude illness and travellers' gastrointestinal disease, and was the first clinic in a developing country selected by the International Society of Travel Medicine for its global surveillance programme. Its doctors see the specific conditions foreigners in Nepal actually get, in volume, which is not something a general private hospital elsewhere in the region can claim. For anything altitude- or travel-related it is the correct first call rather than a fallback.

Source: CIWEC Hospital

There is no single emergency number in Nepal — three separate lines, and no 999 equivalent.

Police is 100, fire is 101 and ambulance is 102, with traffic police on 103. Unlike Bangladesh's consolidated 999, there is no combined line, which means a household needs all of them programmed and needs to know which to call. In practice many residents call their hospital's own ambulance directly, because private services in the valley are often faster than the public ones. Set that number up in advance rather than looking for it during an emergency.

Source: Nepal Police; emergency services

Rabies pre-exposure vaccination deserves more thought here than in most postings.

Kathmandu has a substantial free-roaming dog population and reliable post-exposure treatment thins out quickly once you leave the valley — which matters if you trek or travel for work. Pre-exposure vaccination does not remove the need for treatment after a bite, but it simplifies it substantially and removes the need for immunoglobulin, which is the component hardest to obtain outside a major city. It is a conversation worth having with a travel medicine doctor before arrival rather than after an incident.

Source: community-reported; travel medicine practice

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying a policy with medical evacuation but no helicopter rescue or no stated altitude limit.
Assuming a single emergency number exists — it does not.
Not checking whether your insurer has a direct-billing relationship with Norvic or Grande.
Waiting until January to buy an air purifier.
Skipping the rabies conversation because it did not come up in previous postings.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.