Suicide Hotlines and Crisis Lines in Egypt

A helpline is a place to talk to someone when you are struggling, before or instead of a crisis. The lines on this page are run by national bodies of the Ministry of Health and Population, and their staffing is described beside each one. If you are not in Egypt, the worldwide list is organised by country.

What you share is kept private in almost all cases; if a counsellor believes a life is in immediate danger, they may arrange urgent help. What a call costs is set out beside each service, and where the operator does not publish a cost we say so rather than guess.

TherapyRoute is a directory. We do not answer calls or messages ourselves, so please use the numbers below rather than contacting us if you need someone now.

CRISIS LINES, SUICIDE HOTLINES, AND HELPLINES IN EGYPT

Each number below was checked in August 2026 at the operating organisation's own website, or at an official Egyptian government page that publishes the service.

Notice an error or a missing service? Please tell us so we can correct it.

Emergency numbers, and what each one is for

The national psychological support hotline, 16328

The addiction hotline, 16023

While you are waiting to be answered

If you are worried about someone else

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Emergency numbers, and what each one is for

Egypt runs separate three-digit numbers for ambulance, police and fire. There is no single national three-digit mental health number: the mental health line is the five-digit 16328 in the next section.

Ambulance: 123

The Egyptian Ambulance Organisation (هيئة الإسعاف المصرية) runs this line. Its own site states that "emergency cases and accidents carry no fees" and that "the ambulance can be called 24 hours a day, all days of the week."

Police: 122

Fire brigade: 180

Both codes are printed in an official governorate emergency-numbers directory. They are used nationally, but the Ministry of Interior's own site could not be reached to confirm them in its own words, so we name the source we actually read.

The national psychological support hotline, 16328

The General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment (الأمانة العامة للصحة النفسية وعلاج الإدمان) is the Ministry of Health and Population body behind hotline 16328. Calls are answered by the emergency and psychological support unit of the Central Administration for Mental Health and Addiction Treatment.

In the government's own words, "The Ministry makes psychological support available around the clock through hotline 16328", and "mental health services are available to every citizen without discrimination". The State Information Service describes the room as staffed by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and qualified nursing staff drawn from the mental health and addiction hospitals.

The line handles enquiries and consultations as well as emergencies, so what happens on your call depends on what you bring to it. The Ministry reports 8,808 calls in the first quarter of 2026, of which 3,874 became psychological consultations and 252 were emergency cases referred onward for urgent care.

Tel: 16328

Hours: described by the Ministry as available around the clock, and by the State Information Service as "24 hours a day, all days of the week."

Cost: not published. No page we could read states what a call costs, so do not assume the call is free.

Languages: not published. Every source page for this line is in Arabic.

The addiction hotline, 16023

The Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction (صندوق مكافحة وعلاج الإدمان والتعاطى) runs Egypt's best-known health hotline. It is an addiction line, not a general emotional-support line, and the distinction matters when you choose which number to dial.

The Fund's own site describes the line as answering three kinds of need: information about drugs and their use, advice where an individual or family crisis connected to addiction has arisen, and referral to the specialised medical, psychological and social services attached to the hotline.

In the Fund's own words, "the hotline provides treatment services free of charge and in complete confidentiality." Read that as the Fund's statement about its treatment services, rather than about the price of the call itself.

If what you are struggling with is not connected to drug or substance use, 16328 above is the line for you.

Tel: 16023

Hours: not published. The Fund's site does not state when the line is answered.

Cost: the treatment services are free in the Fund's own words, as quoted above. The price of the call itself is not published.

Languages: not published. The Fund's site is in Arabic.

While you are waiting to be answered

A line that is open can still be busy, and the addiction line's hours are not published. If you are waiting, try to stay with someone you trust, or ask someone to sit with you until the call connects.

If you have anything near you that you could use to harm yourself, put it somewhere harder to reach, or ask someone else to hold it for you. Distance and time both help.

If waiting is not possible, dial 123 or 122, or go to a hospital emergency department. You do not need an appointment and you do not need to explain yourself well.

If you are worried about someone else

Ask them directly. Asking someone whether they are thinking of suicide does not put the idea there, and it often comes as a relief to be asked plainly.

Listen more than you advise. You do not need the right words, and you are not expected to fix anything.

If they are willing, offer to sit with them while they call one of the numbers above, or to make the call together. If they are in immediate danger, treat it as you would any medical emergency.

Supporting someone through this is heavy, and it is reasonable to want support of your own. The same lines are open to you.

For services in other countries, see the list of helplines and suicide hotlines worldwide.

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