Ukraine medical details and tips

[vbtwo 54]

My fiancee just had her medical yesterday (I was there) and we're having our interview today, so I just wanted to share some details and tips with anyone that needs to go through.

1. Getting there

The easiest way to get there by public transit is to take marshrutka 198 from the main railway station. It goes straight there, the last stop on it is pretty much right in front of the entrance. Takes about 25 minutes. The entrance is to a courtyard with a bunch of buildings there, so either just ask the security guard where to go or once you come it just pretty much go straight ahead right next to where you see a sign for a pharmacy.

Even though they write that they work from 9 am, they actually open earlier. When we came in at 8:15, there were already a bunch of people there.

2. Registering

The clinic also does medical exams for Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The registration for US medical is in room 105 (unmarked room). When you come into the building, go left. You will first see people waiting next to the first door (102). This is for registering for those 3 countries. Go a little further and there should be a bunch of people waiting for US registration. Just find out who is last and wait your turn, This process of "queueing" is used for pretty much every room there. When it's your turn, go in, give them your passport, case number, and two photos (I know it says you need three, but they only took two). They'll check you in and give you a giant brown envelope with documents inside and write down 5 rooms you need to visit. The rooms are (in the order they are written): 1. Blood test, 2. X-Ray, 3. Nurses station, 4. Doctor, 5. Cashier to pay. This does not mean that you have to follow that exact order. The first 3 can be done in any order. The doctor must be visited after the other 3 are done. For payment, see below. Most of these rooms also need to be visited by people applying for other countries, and every one uses the "queueing" system described above.

3. Medical

The line for the X-Ray is the longest wait. If you have someone with you, get that person to get in the queue for the X-Ray and go do the blood test meanwhile. If not, just go do the blood test. Afterwards, get in line for the X-Ray and go to the nurses station. The 2 rooms are very close to each other, so you can't lose your place in line. You can technically get in queue for both X-Ray and blood test at the same time and people generally will hold your spot for you, but since those two rooms are on the opposite sides of the building, you can't be guaranteed that you won't lose your spot.

At the nurses station they take your basic measurements, fill out your sick history, and will also transfer your vaccination records for you if you bring them (highly recommended, so you don't need to try to find a civil surgeon in the US that can decipher Ukrainian vaccination records or get them translated, etc).

The doctor needs to be visited after the other 3 are done (there were 2 doctors on duty, and they sent people to either one, just go to the room that it says on your big brown bag).

4. Payment

The fee in hryvnias was 1750 UAH. The cashier is in the same room as registration for the other countries (102). They will only start accepting US payments after they finish with the registration for other countries (around 10:30 or so). The cashier leaves at around noon, so you must pay before that time, otherwise they will not give you the results until you come back another day and pay. If you are not next to the room when they make the announcement that they started accepting US payments (only the blood test is in a part of the building where you can't hear it), then ask the people around if it happened and go pay ASAP.

5. Results

After everything is done, they'll tell you to come back between 3-4pm to get your results. If everything is fine, they will give you the giant brown envelope with your X-Rays and a smaller sealed white envelope that you will take to the embassy for your interview. Anyone can come pick this up, just bring the passport of the applicant.

All in all, the process is a lot of waiting around, and not much else. We came in at 8:15 am and were done at 1pm. Bring a book, or something to do while waiting, or you can just chat with the other people waiting. They do have enough chairs in the hallway for everyone to sit. If you want to wait less, you can come in at the latest time for registration (around 11am), that way you won't really have to wait anywhere except X-Ray, but you will be pretty much the last person in line.

[cowboy333 3]

thank you for posting this

[Derek & Rita 6]

You can technically get in queue for both X-Ray and blood test at the same time and people generally will hold your spot for you,

Gotta love that about Russia, they know how to queue without a 'take a number' system. One of the first things I learned was "kto posledniy" (who's last). England seems crazy about queueing up, with people paid to make sure people queue properly, and know how to form a line. Russians don't form lines often, but they do keep track the order of people. In America, if you leave, sorry, you lost your spot.

[Loving_girl 38]

thank you for detailed review!