Healthcare in Russia: doctor, pharmacy and student insurance

An international student in Russia must hold health cover, and the required policy is taken out locally according to the arrangements the university indicates. It is one of the first steps after arrival, alongside migration registration.

Two points to have clarified in writing by the international relations office, because answers vary between institutions and between years:

• Which policy is required, with whom to take it out, and at what annual cost?
• What exactly does it cover: consultations, hospitalisation, medicines, dental care, and under what conditions?

Do not assume travel insurance bought at home replaces the policy required on site. Have that confirmed before paying twice.

Most universities direct students to their own medical service or to a partner health facility. That is the first point of entry and also the simplest: staff there are used to international students and to insurance questions.

Ask in the first weeks, before you need it: where that service is, what hours it keeps, whether an appointment is required, and what to do outside opening hours. Those four answers saved in your phone beat a frantic search on a Sunday evening.

Pharmacies — “аптека” — are plentiful in Russian cities, often with long opening hours. Three practical differences are worth knowing before the first visit.

• Brand names are not the same as at home. A medicine you know by its brand may exist under another name: what you need to be able to say is the molecule, not the brand.
• Dispensing rules differ: some products sold over the counter at home require a prescription here, and the reverse also happens. Do not rely on habit.
• Packaging and leaflets are in Russian. Photographing the leaflet and translating it is a useful reflex, especially for dosage.

Before leaving, write down the international name — the molecule — of every medicine you take regularly. That is the name a Russian pharmacist will understand.

This is not about packing a whole pharmacy, but about covering the first two weeks, before you have worked out where to buy what.

• Your current personal treatments, in sufficient quantity for several months, with the matching prescriptions.
• The prescription or medical report, translated, if you follow a long-term treatment.
• Something for a cold, a sore throat or a headache in the first days.
• A thermometer and a small supply of dressings.

If you follow a regular treatment, check two things before departure: whether the molecule is available in Russia, and the conditions for entering the territory with medicines in quantity, which may require a translated prescription. Ask the Russian diplomatic mission.

Maghrebi students do not fall ill in Russia because of the cold itself, but because of the swings: heavily heated interiors, very cold outside, several times a day. Dressing in layers you can remove indoors handles those swings far better than one thick coat.

Two other factors deserve attention during the first winter: the lack of daylight, which weighs on sleep and mood, and the dry air of heated buildings, responsible for many sore throats.

The first semester far from home is tiring, and tiredness is not always medical. Between the language, the climate and distance from family, a hard patch in November or February is ordinary — and it is not settled at the pharmacy.

Talk about it: to more advanced students, to the international relations office, to your family. If you are supported by our teams, that is also what we are here to hear. A semester is often saved by a conversation, rarely by a medicine.