Health
St. Petersburg has a number of medical centers that are Western owned and run. If you have a serious problem when in either of these cities, we recommend that you use their services. We have listed some of their phone numbers in the useful numbers section below. Be aware that these clinics charge Western prices or may be even more expensive than your typical Western hospital or clinic. Some of them may accept your insurance but most will not, therefore, it is best to keep all bills that you have paid and submit them to your insurance company. It also may be a good idea to purchase travel insurance for your trip just to make sure that you will be covered.
The regular Russian medical system has become quite inefficient and it is really hit or miss. Also, services such as ambulances and emergency rooms can be really terrible. It may take 2 hours for an ambulance to reach you and you might end up waiting in a waiting room in a Russian hospital for 5 hours before being taken care of. Therefore, in cases or real emergencies, it is best to take a taxi. A consolation for all of this is that the Russian medical system is extremely cheap and possibly free in some cases, and if you do meet a "good" doctor, you will indeed get good advice and service at practically no cost.