Will ALL regions require the 8 specialist medical?

What we have been told is that it continues to be region specific, some are allowing your doc to sign the form with letter specifying they are qualified to do so and other regions are requiring the in country medicals which we were told would be on trip 1 (in Moscow)either before or after going to the region, so we are prepared to do that but will be pleasantly surprised and happy if we don't!

Still region specific. Our region still does not require this, although all eight "areas" were covered on the medical form we executed for our dossier.

This is the 1st I've heard about having to go to the doctor while in Russia. We had our doctor fill out the form with the 8 areas. Our paperwork was just checked and sent to Region yesterday. Hopefully we won't need anything else. We did have to have a psych eval.

We just returned from Samara on April 10th with our daughter. We did not have to do the 8 Doctor Medical in Russia. Just our physicals and lab work here in the states. 2 Couples that traveled with us on our first trip, but did not get to go with us on the second trip, are scheduled to travel this weekend for their court date, learned on Wednesday of this week, that anyone going to court in Samara after April 24, 2006 has to have the 8 Doctor Medical done in Moscow before traveling to the region. This means they have to have this done over the weekend and be ready to fly to Samara @ 4pm on Sunday. The information they received from their agency's also confirmed that other regions, that were not currently doing the 8 Doctor physicals, would be implementing this policy. Samara has also been known to waive the 10 waiting period for almost everyone. These couples learned on Thursday of this week, that the Judge has been questioned about this and now she will be looking closer at each case before deciding to waive the 10 days or not to waive it. Both of the couples were asked to get statements from their children's doctor about them needing care in the USA right away (which they honestly do) and to also write a letter themselves about the hardship this would cause for their family if they had to stay for another 10 days. So there are changes coming about in even some of the most adoption friendly regions. We will see if these changes are permanant or just for now.

We were told today by our agency that the supreme court in Russia just handed down a decision requiring an in-country (Russia) 8-doctor exam. I'm not sure whether it applies to all regions, but it seems that it would. We are leaving tomorrow for court, and nobody is sure whether this will apply to PAPs who already have court dates, or if we will be grandfathered in. We are in Moscow Region. We have been told that, in Moscow, the medical exam can be done at a clinic there for a cost of $350 (cash) per person. Lori

Our region (Khabarovsk)did require the 8 dr med exam, and the judge wanted it in the region. We had already made our first trip before this rule was announced, so we had to make a medical trip. (Still waiting for a court date)Most people are able to have it done during their first trip. It is absolutley the easiest thing. The medical system is very different in Russia than in the west. Hanging out at the clinic in the region was way cheaper and WAY easier than doing it at home. Their "specialists" are way different than ours. There; it's like a regular doctor exam here, but 8 different drs do it. We had one dr listen to our heart, one check our reflexes, one do our blood pressure, etc.It's really nothing to worry over, and it's actually very easy.

We are waiting on a court date...and have heard NOTHING about the 8 doc medical in our region (Izhevsk). I sure hope we don't have to go on a "medical" trip...we can't afford 3 trips at this point. UGH...

If I had a dollar for every time an "every region is requiring it now" rumor is posted I could probably have this adoption paid for! :p None of the regions our agency works in are requiring the 8-doctor form.