If you’re a woman, and you’re feeling a little under the weather lately even on those mornings when you didnХt have too much to drink the night before Р you may be asking yourself: Hmm, where can I get a cheap, confidential pregnancy test?
ItХs not a problem to buy a home pregnancy test in Kyiv. The do-it-yourself kits are available at most major pharmacies. Prices range from Hr 4 to Hr 20, depending on the manufacturer and the efficiency of the test.
The drugstore Chance at Khreshchatyk 15 has a wide range of foreign-made home pregnancy tests including brands manufactured in America, Germany and Slovenia.
Of course, itХs also possible to go to a clinic and have a medical technician administer the test. But youХll get the same urine test that the kits provide. And if you go to clinic, the accuracy of the results is about the same as a do-it-yourself kit but in the clinic, thereХs always the chance that the test results will get mixed up.
However, if you are pregnant, itХs not a bad idea to go to the clinic to meet with a gynecologist about your options.
The biggest providers of womensХ health care, the Public WomensХ Consultation centers in Kyiv, officially serve only Ukrainian citizens. If you arenХt a citizen, consider yourself lucky; the conditions and service at most of them are far from Western-standard.
Yet public centers have their advantages, too. You can ask a Ukrainian friend to arrange a consultation with her doctor informally. Give the doctor a bottle of champagne and about Hr 20, and in return youХll get friendly, personal care. Public doctors are happy to make extra money.
Private clinics are clean and reliable. The staff there is friendlier and better-trained, and youХll find sophisticated equipment exported from the West. The Kyiv Business Directory lists many of them. A gynecological examination, for example, in Medicom clinic (Borshchagivska 129, tel: 432-8888) costs Hr 85. Exams are by appointment only.
Many local women donХt trust private clinics suspecting that they overcharge and misdiagnose in an effort to make money off unnecessary tests and procedures. Doctors at the American Medical Center (Berdichevska 1, tel. 211-6555) are more reliable and trustworthy Р but itХll cost you. A consultation with American gynecologist costs $215.
Also in Kyiv there is a special fertility clinic called Isida Medical Center (28/1 Kosiora tel. 274-6016 www.isidaivf.com.ua). It was one of the first and respected private clinics in Ukraine. The first visit including an ultrasound costs Hr 56. Doctors at Isida Center perform about 400 operations a year. They specialize in artificial impregnation (EKO), which costs Hr 1,600 and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for Hr 400. Artificial impregnation with a donorХs sperm costs Hr 1,740.
Olga Kryzhanovska
If you have a suggestion for ТTip of the Week,У you may e-mail your question to [email protected].
