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so you need a doctor in brazzaville? good luck with that.

@Sarah Bloom2/7/2026blog
so you need a doctor in brazzaville? good luck with that.

lowercase start. look, i’ve been in brazzaville for three weeks and my body is a war crime. i’m a disillusioned consultant, which means i used to optimize supply chains for a living and now i’m optimizing how to not die from dysentery. finding an english-speaking doctor here isn’t just a task-it’s a full-blown logistics puzzle with side quests in bribery and interpreter roulette.

first, the lay of the land. the city is a sprawl of concrete and dust, sliced by the *congo river that looks like a massive, lazy brown snake. the air feels like wet wool. my hotel room in poto-poto costs 300,000 XAF a month, which is a steal until you realize half the neighborhood bolts shut after 9 pm because safety here is a gradient, not a guarantee. rent’s cheap because nobody with options lives here long-term. the job market? mostly ngo scraps and extractive industry bullshit. real talk from a localbartender: 'if you’re not with the un or an oil company, your insurance is probably a prayer and a french dictionary.'

medical infrastructure? there’s the clinique koudi near the center. they have a scanner, supposedly. but the english? sparse. you’ll get a nurse who knows 'headache' and 'stomach' and then you’re on your own. a taxi driver i paid to drive me in circles-don’t ask-muttered something about 'les blancs go to the german clinic in bacongo for anything serious.' great, a rumor. data point: a canadian expat on the congo expats subreddit swears by dr. baptiste at centre médical de l’amitié, but he’s booked six months out and his english is 'medical textbook accent.' oh, and he charges in euros. cash only.

> ‘my cousin worked there. they’ll take your money first, then tell you if you have malaria. it’s a business model.’
> - overheard at le nid, a bar that smells like stale beer and regret.

> ‘you want a real doctor? you need a connection. or you go to kinshasa. the flight is 45 minutes. cheaper than a cat scan here.’
> - a french engineer who looked like he hadn’t slept in a decade.

costs are a kick in the teeth. a basic consultation at a place that might speak english: 50,000 xaf (~$80). then they’ll refer you to a lab for 'tests.' that lab will cost another 100,000 xaf. and good luck getting an actual prescription without a 'facilitation fee' to the pharmacist. i’m not kidding. the system runs on grease. i found a yelp page for clinique sauvegarde with a single five-star review that’s just 'they saved my life' in broken french. helpful.

here’s the map, because you’ll need it. all the 'reputable' clinics cluster near the river and the presidential palace. surprise, surprise.


look at this street. it’s the road to the german clinic. looks like every other road here.

cars and motorcycles on a street


practical takeaways from my suffering:
- don’t assume embassy lists are gospel. the american embassy gave me a pdf that’s from 2012. half those numbers are disconnected.
- blue cross has a local partner, but you need a global policy. i have travel insurance that’s basically a sticker in my passport.
- if you get seriously ill, get on a plane to kinshasa or johannesburg. the hospitals there actually have functional equipment and doctors who aren’t terrified of malpractice suits. the flight to kinshasa is shorter than the drive across brazzaville in traffic.
- bring a translator app pre-downloaded. offline french medical dictionary. and cash. so much cash.
- trust the expat facebook group more than any website. they’ll warn you about the clinic that charges $200 for a 'consultation fee' before you even see a nurse.

i finally found someone. a nurse at my hotel, marie-claude, knows a dr. nkoussa who did his residency in cameroon and speaks decent english. he works out of a cramped office in makélékélé that has no sign. you have to know to ask. that’s the key here: knowledge. it’s not posted; it’s whispered. it’s the guy the un staff see when they don’t want the german clinic’s bill.

here’s the river view from the bridge. it’s beautiful if you ignore the garbage and the fact that it’s basically a disease delivery system.

a view of a bridge over a body of water


last piece of advice: if you’re here long-term, get really good at asking 'where do the internationals go?' not 'where is the best doctor?' because 'best' here often means 'most expensive' and 'least likely to kill you.' the difference is everything.

go to tripadvisor and filter for 'medical centers.' you’ll see three listings with 20 reviews total. that’s your market. and check this subreddit thread from six months ago about a malaria outbreak. the comments are a masterclass in panicked resource sharing. the expat.com brazzaville forum* is another dusty corner of the internet where people post warnings like 'dr. x asked for a 'donation' to the clinic.' that’s your signal to run.

anyway. drink bottled water. wear bug spray. and hope your english-speaking doctor isn’t just a guy who watched a lot of grey’s anatomy. i’m going to lie down now. the humidity is winning.

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About the author: Sarah Bloom

Collecting ideas and sharing the best ones with you.

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