At a glance
| Who decides | The doctor, after talking to you and examining you. You ask for a doctor, not for a drip. |
|---|---|
| Where | At the address you are staying at, hotel or private, anywhere on our list of Cape Town areas. |
| What we do not do | No menu of drips, no named mixtures, no promised effects. |
| Fee | Quoted by the doctor when he or she rings you, and settled with the doctor, not with us. |
| Emergencies | We are not an ambulance. A collapse or a fit means 10177, or 112 on a cell phone. |
A drip is a medical decision, not a menu
You cannot order a particular drip from us. You ask for a doctor, the doctor assesses you, and a drip is given only if the doctor finds a medical reason for it.
In Cape Town, as elsewhere, intravenous drips are sold in some places by name, each with a list of benefits printed beside it. We do not work that way. Under the HPCSA ethical rules, a practitioner may advertise only if the advertisement is not untruthful, deceptive or misleading, and a promise that a bag of fluid will make you feel a certain way sits badly with that rule. So you will not find claims here about energy, immunity, skin or performance.
What the doctor weighs is more ordinary. How unwell are you? Have you lost a lot of fluid, and can you keep drinks down? Is there something else going on that a drip would only hide? Sometimes the honest answer is a few glasses of water and a quiet afternoon, and the doctor will tell you so. Sometimes it is a hospital, and the doctor will tell you that too.
Who puts up the drip
The doctor who assesses you decides on the drip and puts it up, at your address. Before starting, he or she explains what will be given, why, and roughly how long it will take.
Our doctors are on the HPCSA register. Before the visit you receive the doctor's name and registration number, so you can check the council's public register before you open the door.
Medicines follow their own law. The Medicines Act of 1965 lets a doctor prescribe, but handing over or making up medicines requires a dispensing licence, which the national Department of Health issues under section 22C to registered practitioners. Where a doctor does not hold one, any medicine that has to be dispensed comes as a written prescription for a pharmacy.
Tell the doctor on the phone about any heart or kidney condition, a pregnancy, allergies and the medicines you take. Each of these can change the decision, and the doctor will ask about them anyway.
How a visit works
Request a doctor on WhatsApp or through the form. The doctor who accepts calls you, tells you the fee, agrees a time and then comes to you.
- Write to us on WhatsApp, or fill in the request form, and say that IV treatment is what you are asking about.
- One of the doctors working in your part of Cape Town takes the request and phones you. The fee is on the table before anything is arranged.
- Once with you, the doctor asks how this started, examines you and checks your pulse, blood pressure and temperature.
- The doctor tells you whether a drip makes sense and, if it does, what goes in and why. You can still say no.
- Before leaving, the doctor gives you a line-by-line invoice and tells you what to watch for over the next day.
We do not publish an arrival time for IV visits. The doctor gives you one on the phone, and you can book for later in the day if that suits you better. If a drip is given, you will need to stay put while it runs, so avoid booking the visit just before a flight, a tour or a long drive.
After a big night: the hangover question
We do not sell a hangover drip, and we make no promise that a drip will make a hangover go away. A doctor can check whether you are dealing with more than a hangover, and treat dehydration if it turns out to be significant.
Cape Town gives visitors plenty of reasons for a late night, from a long lunch on a wine farm to an evening out in the City Bowl. The useful question the morning after is not which drip to order. It is whether this is an ordinary hangover at all.
The doctor asks what you drank and when, whether you have been sick, and whether you took anything else, then examines you. Be straightforward about drugs or medicines: the doctor is bound by the HPCSA rule on patient confidentiality, and the answer changes what is safe to give. If you are a little dry and can drink, the doctor may simply advise fluids by mouth and rest. If you cannot keep anything down, a drip may be reasonable. Either way the examination comes first.
Some situations are not a hangover and must not wait for a home visit. Call 10177, or 112 from a mobile phone, if someone who has been drinking:
- cannot be woken, or keeps passing out
- has a fit
- is breathing very slowly or irregularly
- is vomiting while barely conscious
Stay with that person until help arrives.
When a drip is not the right answer
If the doctor finds something that needs a hospital, you will be told, and a drip at home will not stand in for it.
That can happen when dehydration is severe, when the cause of the vomiting or pain is unclear, or when a long-term condition makes extra fluid risky. The doctor explains the reasoning, tells you where to go and, where needed, writes a referral letter for the hospital team. A declined drip is part of the service, not a failure of it.
Fees and invoice
This site lists no prices. The cost of the visit, and of any fluids or medicines used, is quoted by the doctor on the phone, and you settle it with the doctor.
Because the doctor bills under his or her own practice number, the invoice is in the format South African medical aids work with. Travel insurers each have their own rules on IV treatment, so check yours and keep the doctor's clinical note alongside the bill. How fees are announced, and why, is covered in the payment and insurance part of our main page.
Emergencies
SA Home Doctor is not an emergency service. Chest pain, trouble breathing, a collapse or a fit call for an ambulance on 10177, or 112 on a cell phone, not for a drip at home.
Call 10177 Call 112 from a mobile
Public hospitals in Cape Town, as listed by the provincial health department:
- Tygerberg Hospital (government, 24 h)
- Groote Schuur Hospital, Observatory (government, 24 h)
- Victoria Hospital, Wynberg (government, 24 h)
- New Somerset Hospital, Green Point (government, 24 h)
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I choose which drip I get?
No. You ask for a doctor, not a product. The doctor assesses you, decides whether a drip is appropriate and what goes in it, and explains that decision to you.
Do you offer hangover drips in Cape Town?
Not as a product. A doctor can assess you the morning after, check that nothing more serious is going on and treat dehydration if needed. We make no promise that a drip will make a hangover go away.
Who puts in the drip?
The doctor who assesses you, at your home, rental or hotel room. You are given the doctor's name and HPCSA registration number before the visit.
How much does IV therapy cost?
There is no price list. The doctor quotes the cost on the phone before the visit, including any fluids used, and you pay the doctor.
Can the doctor decide not to give me a drip?
Yes, if a drip is not the right treatment for you. The doctor may advise fluids by mouth and rest instead, or a hospital if something more serious is going on.
Is IV therapy an emergency treatment here?
No. SA Home Doctor is not an emergency service. Someone who cannot be woken, has a fit or is fighting for breath needs an ambulance on 10177, or 112 on a cell phone.