Yes range you can order nearly any non opiate. I had a bad pinched nerve there and they sold me injectable VIOXX. Totally banned in north America for killing 96,000 people. When in a pharmacy buy ALL the drugs they offer you, then read about what they are online before you take them. For my nerve I got 2 boxes of pills and 3 injectable ampules for about $8. Took all home, read up on them... Tossed out 2 ampules and one box of pills.
Yep you can get pretty much anything in Ukraine over the counter though there are a lot of drugs they dont stock. Pretty much the same in a lot of countries. Imagine not having to go to a doctor for a prescription, a huge chunk of the medical system gets a big hole in their incomes. My wife gets me lots of medications saving me in drug cost but much more by not having a doctor scamming me on a regular basis for the prescription.
I have had strep throat pretty often in my life. When I was a kid the routine was always the same. The doctor tested for it and prescribed antibiotics (the test was ALWAYS positive). Today doctors are reluctant to prescribe antibiotics in such situations as doing so promotes antibiotic resistant bacteria. Thats a very responsible approach - but it requires me to endure the illness longer. And NOBODY wants to do that in Ukraine.
I simply go to the pharmacy and get a decongestant and amoxicillan for about $2.50 and I am good to go.
Sunvolt, daa very good topic for all us guys say over 40 or 50 years-old.
Think most of the replys you have had are very positive, 2 for nobody wants 2 die from lack of health care here in Ukraine.
I like you have brillent health for when i`m in UK but here in Ukraine you take your chances, bit like poker i surpose you play the hand you`ve got for the best daa.
Sunvolt if your medical condition is only going 2 get worse than i for one would not live in Ukraine, for if you was alone at the time of your heart-attack here in Ukraine i`m sorry 2 say most Ukrainians would think you was just a drunk daa full of vodka and just walk past you like we do here with all the drunks out on the streets day or night, such you would never recover then would you.
Daa i bring doom & gloom everywhere don`t i!!.
But good news carry that small heart-machine around in your back-pack stick 2 friends / family / the wife / the girlfriend who know how 2 use it then i see no problem with a good Ukrainian Doctor 2 you will SURVIVE here!!.
The other main killer of older men is that bloody PROSTATE so guys get 2 your bones bend over get that lovely thrill you know you want ;)) but SURVIVE do it do it 2day.
FATE FATE FATE Ukrainians know just love 2 know their fate??, wether it be your heart-attack or you get killed by the local city trolley bus for this will be your FATE as well as mine mate.
Godspeed western guys 2 SURVIVE daa godspeed.
myheart2ukraine
Many American drugs are available in Ukrainian pharmacies your pronunciation of the name of drug may be adequate to be understood by the pharmacist.
Other medication that are patented in the US and sold under a particular brandname my be availble in a generic form in Ukraine or under a different brand.
I suggest you research your prescriptions and look for the Russian spelling and brand. You might then want to print up the cyrilic name of the medication on a printed page from the comfort of your home - so that if and when you need those medications you have something you can show the pharmacist - rather than to hope that he/she understands your pronunciation.
I haven't done this myself yet but I will before I go again.
Myheart2ukraine,
I have had my arse parked here in Kyiv since January 10 . My apartment is only 2 blocks uphill off Kreshatyk Str on Proreznaya Str. You know, I have never seen nor heard at day or night any ambulatory sirens or vehicles, even for fire. Not once.
When I was in Kiev in December I DID see an ambulance rushing down the street. I mentioned to my girl (from Poltava) that it was the first I had ever seen. And she seemed to be completely confused and curious as to what it was.
Really? I have seen quite a few ambulances. Most all have paramedics or even doctors aboard, depending if they are state or private.
One girl I dated worked for a company as a doctor on board.
Jetmba's advice is good one regarding printing the name of your drug in Russian as it would make it far easier for the pharmacist and you.
FIRST time I ever saw an ambulance in Ukraine was on my very first trip to Odessa in 2003. I was staying at the Black Sea Hotel and could believe how fast wrecklessly cars raced by. I commented to someone that I was amazed that these drivers could do this and have no accidents.
About 3:00 am I heard a crash and got up to look outside - there had been a crash right outside my hotel window (but I was many floors up). One car was up on the sidewalk, the other in the street. Two different ambulances came. One about a half hour later - the other a full hour later.
I was told the next day that there had been at least one fatality.
It was icy on the way to Zaporozhye airport one February morning. It was a small town with slow traffic. From the tracks of the tires, I noticed the car has slid. There was a lady, motionless, probably dead with her head on the concrete. There were no ambulances.
Well, I never thought about this before! In Saint Petersburg, ambulances are plentiful; I have seen them many times, and not infrequently groups of them parked together. They look very modern and efficient, and all have "Skoraya Meditsinskaya Pomoshch'" (in Cyrillic, of course, roughly translated as quick medical help) on their sides. Sometimes, there is also the alarming word "Reanimatsiya."
This is not to say that I have seen one responding to a call ;)
But in all my time in Ukraine -- if I added it all up, probably close to 100 days, mostly in the bustling megalopolis of Kyiv -- I don't remember seeing an ambulance even once.
I suppose I'm lucky, having spent as much time as I have in the FSU, not to have witnessed anyone's death or serious injury. But I do try to exercise a degree of judgment about where I go, when, and how much attention I draw to myself (as in, I try to blend into the woodwork as much as I am able).
I did once pass a body in a Moscow metro station (I couldn't be certain, but it looked to me that the fellow had recently collapsed and died). I'd just arrived from the airport, and was on my way to the flat where I would stay, and thought "hullo, I'm back in Russia!" As I recall it, there were a couple of people looking down on him with apparent concern (as in, "gosh, what do we do about that?") but no police or medical responder.
Heart disease being so devastatingly prevalent among FSU men, it's not unlikely he had just been felled by a coronary.
I don't worry about these things too much. It long ago occurred to me that if I keep spending as much time as I can manage in Russia, there's a certain risk that my last moments will be spent bleeding out on a frozen pavement. As far as medical help goes, if you have a life-threatening crisis in the FSU, and you can make it through the first hour on your own resources (or with the help of any kindly people nearby), I reckon you have a good chance of making it home; otherwise, it's "lights out."
BTW, I met a very personable guy in Ukraine who told me that a couple of years before, he had seen several of his countrymen putting a beat-down on a fellow, to which he responded by helping him to fight the thugs off. He turned out to be American, and they became great friends.
Well ,
I decided i better get off my arse and go to the local Irish Pub and be extra nice to this beautiful waitress who i have caught several times looking and smiling at me and she talks English, strange, crossing the street i almost got run over by a paramedic ambulance with lights flashing no siren walked inside sat down she served me a piece of cheesecake and gladly with a huge smile accepted a lunch date tomorrow with me . Sweet !