Review of Medical: Dr. Gulzar Cheema (Surrey)

[Peot 161]

Getting to and around Vancouver / Surrey

Vancouver (and Surrey) is often cheaper than getting to Montreal as far as flight costs are concerned, so many might be tempted by that. Getting to Surrey from Vancouver airport takes about an hour and is a complete and total breeze. The airport is easy to get around, lots of signs pointing your way, and a 1-day unlimited skytrain pass is $15. You need to take the Canada line to downtown Vancouver (waterfront station), and then hop on the Expo line all the way to Surrey (scott road station). Dr. Cheema's office IS actually on Scott road. If you look at a map though, getting off on any of the final 3 or so stops will cost you about the same cab fare though, so it's your choice! The skytrain is the single biggest reason for choosing Surrey as the medical location since it's so convenient to anywhere you want to go.

 

Now you WILL need a cab to get to Dr. Cheema's office from the station. There are cabs lined up outside every single station, and they're what you'd expect in price. About $20 to get to the medical office in about 15-20 mins. You might consider walking, and all I have to say is DON'T DO IT. I did the walk one way. It's grueling. 2 hours in the heat without a bench or shade tree in sight from the station to the medical office. 20,000 steps. Lesson learned. Taxi is the way to go, and it will be $20 well spent.

7170 Scott Road (120 street).

 

Walking to the lab / x-ray place IS very very doable though, and I'd recommend you save your money and do at least that much. 30 min walk and it's in a straight line North up the street, though again, not much shade! If it's a hot day, you may want to consider a cab again even for that short distance, or hop on a bus.

8425 Scott Road (120 street). West-Coast Medical Imaging on 1st floor (unit 104). LifeLabs on 2nd floor (unit 201).

 

From there, get a cab back to the train station and enjoy the rest of Vancouver and its suburbs! 

Note: Buses do travel from the Scott road station down 120 Street to right in front of the medical place, but catching them can be a pain, they're hot, and slow. Again, this might be a reasonable option if you're in no hurry.

 

The Exam

I showed up at 9:30 for my 11:30 exam appointment and they were happy to squeeze me in! That gave me all day to play in the city. Don't be afraid of going early, and if they can't fit you in, there's literally a mall across the street and several decent restaurants within 5 min walk.

At Dr. Cheema's office, the receptionists are KEY! They will happily answer every single question you have about the entire process, and know the ins and outs. They'll even confirm all the vaccinations, and make sure the paperwork is in order.

They were also were going to send me a copy of the medical for "Adjusting Status" even though I didn't ask for it. They just knew.

 

Dr. Cheema's role is VERY brief. I timed it. 10 minutes flat. That included the nurse weighing and doing height! He was extremely friendly though, but this is NOT a physical. This is a quick checkup. I don't think this is a bad thing. I have my own family doctor for physicals. This process SHOULD be fast and to-the-point for visa applications, however it annoyed me that he's the only doctor in the west coast able to do it, even though he did nothing special. I think that's everyone's beef with the limited places we have to go.

Quick eye exam, pressed abdomen, listened to heart and breathing, and asked 100 questions like "have you ever had HIV?" "Hep-C?" "On any street drugs?" and so on.

 

(PS: I had a td vaccination 2 weeks prior. They still gave me a tdap there for an additional cost, but did give me a blue vaccination record to keep as proof).

 

LifeLabs was a 40 minute wait at 11:30am. You register and wait to be called. The entire process took about 50 minutes. You cannot register without the letter from Dr. Cheema's office! Do not go here first! Drew blood and did urine sample. Very friendly staff who are, slightly less knowledgeable about why you're there. It's one of the few labs in the city, so they have a very broad customer base. Don't expect them to know anything about US medicals!

 

West-coast medical imaging took about 15-20 minutes. Same process. You register and wait. You cannot register without the letter from Dr. Cheema's office! Went in, put my chest against a wall and they took a picture of my insides. You have to wait until they know the image turned out ok, and then you're on your way.

 

Remember to grab a cab back to the station! Don't try to hoof it!

 

The Fees and Cost

As I said before, the cost flying to Vancouver can be appealing for most people living in the prairies or western Canada. I was able to save $100 by flying to Vancouver instead of Montreal for this. However this was quickly eaten up by fees, and travel in the city.

 

SkyTrain ticket: 1 day pass is $15. It's technically cheaper to buy a single-use pass that's valid for up to 90 mins, but then you're worrying about time, and you'll need to line up twice to get tickets (your medical will definitely take longer than 90 mins). Trust me, the extra $5 it costs for a day ticket will allow you to stop worrying about time, and you can use it to explore the city a little after!

 

Cab fare is $20 from train station to Dr. Cheema's. And about $20 back to the station from the lab. Again, you could wait for a bus. Bus fare is included with your purchased fare for the train, but catching them can be a pain.

 

Medical exam: $340.

Courier to home address: $35

Additional vaccinations: $45 each.

Labs are "free" with this cost.

 

Total cost for ME, including travel but not airfare: $455.

 

Of note: the exam is $40 more expensive than Montreal and cost me $40 in cab fare to get to. If the flight cost is the same as Montreal for you, consider that you'll actually be spending more in Surrey than you will in Montreal by around $75.

 

Total time, including exams and travel back and forth was around 5 1/2 hours. That's be being liberal with time estimates too. You could probably do it faster! Keep this in mind while booking flight times.

[theanswerisdance 144]

Great write-up. It brings back memories! I was surprised to see a review for Dr. Cheema's office because I had just assumed that when Vancouver stopped processing K-1s, they also stopped offering medicals. I wonder how many non-BC residents they still see coming their way instead of doing it all in Montreal?

 

When I went back in 2014 the embassy was only scheduling K-1 interviews on Tuesday mornings, and Dr. Cheema's office only had results ready for you after 4pm on the day following your exam, which meant it was necessary to have the medical on a Friday, pick up the results on the Saturday, and then kill time in Vancouver until Tuesday's interview. Not a bad place to spend a weekend! But definitely a lot more costs involved with hotels, transportation, food, etc. for those empty days in between. It's valuable from your review for K-1 applicants to see that they CAN fly in and fly out all in one day if they opt to do the medical in Vancouver, with that courier option for your results that you mentioned. 

[lilsweetie 32]

wow great write up!

thanks for all this info

[Peot 161]

On 8/11/2017 at 3:26 PM, theanswerisdance said:

Great write-up. It brings back memories! I was surprised to see a review for Dr. Cheema's office because I had just assumed that when Vancouver stopped processing K-1s, they also stopped offering medicals. I wonder how many non-BC residents they still see coming their way instead of doing it all in Montreal?

The morning I was there, one of the lab techs at the x-ray place said they had processed someone from Calgary, Edmonton, and one from Saskatoon. Seems like it's still one of the go-to places for people in the prairies and west coast.

 

Keep in mind that there are also a couple medical places that do it up in Toronto too  In fact Toronto was my second option when weighing whether to have it done in Montreal, Toronto, or Surrey.