Hospitals in Ukraine

Most people will be aware that a 'flu pandemic' has been the major focus in Ukraine for the past few weeks. Unfortunately, the virus found its way to me and I must say its the worst case of flu I have ever had. Its approximately four weeks today since I fell ill and I am only just getting back to normal.

Getting sick in Ukraine is a tricky business if you have to enter hospital.
As I tried to battle with the virus for the first week at home, my wife finally called in the doctor and he ordered an ambulance to take me into hospital. I had a very high temperature, my throat was closing up and I was having difficulty speaking.

To my suprise, instead of sending the ambulance to a private clinic, he told them to take me to a specialist public hospital dealing with the virus.
Anyone who has visited or had the unfortunate situation of being a patient in a Ukrainian hospital will know that it is close to a nightmare experience.

I will never again make any criticism about the British national health service.
In a Ukrainian hospital they provide you with NOTHING. OK they provide you with a bed. The mattress looked like it had received blood from many of its previous occupants.
The bathroom and toilet would have been condemned in a western european country. Plus there were no light bulbs in the toilet or bathroom, so I could never see what I was doing.
Luckily, I am covered by health insurance, but felt as if it was not providing me with any benefits.
The hospital doctors informed me that they would only start treating me, when my insurance company had delivered the medicines to the hospital.

When I say the hospital provides you with NOTHING, I am talking about:
No toilet paper, no water or drinks etc. My wife knows the situation too well as she is a Ukrainian and came the next day with a bag of basics including a KETTLE, Cup, 5 liters of water, food etc.

If a foreign person found themselves in the unfortunate situation of having to stay in a Ukrainian hospital and they had no friends or relatives to help them, I shudder to think how they would survive.

After a few days I convinced myself I would be better off at home, so checked myself out of the hospital. Outside the hospital, I witnessed the longest queue of ambulances I have ever seen.
The hospital was becoming over run with patients and it was obvious they could'nt cope with demand.

I went home and confined myself to the security of our own apartment.

I NEVER want to visit a hospital in Ukraine again. But it has helped me to understand how bad the situation is with the Ukraine Health Service. I think a good guide on the economic/social status of a country is provided by the state of its health service. Unfortunately, in Ukraine it is on par with a third world country.

BBCU Meeting 29 October 2009

Unfortunately I have been very ill during the past few weeks with the dreaded swine flu virus.

So, I missed the Otcober networking meeting on 29 October at the Radisson Hotel in Kyiv.
However as usual it was well attended and an excellent presentation was provided by our member company - Bold Endeavours. The theme of the event was " e-marketing, Extreme Website Makeovers. Some of our members volunteered their web sites for analysis.

Ukrainians - How to do business with them - Opera Hotel 24 Sept 2009

Summer is over and we are back into the Autumn season of meetings.
The BBCU held its September monthly meeting at the Opera Hotel in Kyiv.
The theme: Ukrainians - How to do business with them.
This was a pure networking and social event and as usual we had a high turnout and for the first time we had to restrict the number of guests as the hotel was getting full.

The Opera Hotel is managed by Mr Benoit Kuborn and he is a breath of fresh air when it comes to hotel management in Ukraine. He is a true professional who knows how to make people feel welcome in a 5 star environment. I think we will have more events at the Opera.

Talking of doing business....unfortunately there is not alot of it about. Ukraine is still suffering from the Financial Crisis and many people are using the old excuse of "Lets wait until after the presidential election to see what we do next". So many projects/deals are being put on hold until post 17 January 2010.
Its a long time to hold your breath.

BBCU Golf School - Launch

We have had so many people requesting more about golf, that we have decided to launch a BBCU Golf School. One of Kyivs long time expats - Bill Bennett, is a great golf player and has stepped forward to lead on this project.

We will form a partnership with Royal Kyiv Golf Club, we have known them for some time during the construction of the golf course. The course is almost finished and already has a great Driving Range, Chipping and putting green and an excellent 6 hole Academy Course for beginners. So we have the basic facilities in place to start teaching people the game.

However, as usual in Ukraine its not without problems. Due to the economic crisis, the club house is not even built yet and the driving range building is not complete. We are just being honest with people and telling them that they cannot expect VIP service for some time. Hence our initial green fees and school fees will be low, plus we will introduce a 'Pay and You Play' scheme to make it easier and just get people playing.

We know we have many expats who have been waiting a long time to play on a REAL golf course in Ukraine. Visitors will be pleasantly suprised when they see the layout of the 18 hole course.
Designed by Martin Hawtree (British Golf course designer), the Royal Kyiv Golf Course will be THE first professional level course in Ukraine.

BBCU Golf Day

We escaped from the city centre of Kyiv on Friday 31st July to visit Golf Stream, approximately 30 km to the west of Kyiv. Golf Stream management were kind enough to provide a bus, to avoid any drink driving after the event.

With 42 members and guests a great time was had by all. Although we only had six real golfers.
The winner on the 9 hole course was Peter Burningham, with Tim Huxtable a close second.

Those who took part in the "Golf Clinic" throughly enjoyed their introduction to the game.
Everyone had the opportunity to play on the chipping green, putting green and driving range.
The best performance was from Ben Hunt closely followed by Ursula Silling and Sergey Savchuk.

I still think golf is like a drug. You get addicted to the game and want to get more of it.
Maybe we should challenge our American friends at the ACC to a tournament?

Networking Meeting 7 July - Feedback

Last night the BBCU held what many say was our best ever meeting.
The first time we have held a meeting in a restaurant and it was a great success.
63 people attended.
The theme - Agricultural Investment in Ukraine proved interesting to our members and guests as most people understand that agriculture presents itself as one of those 'just around the corner' opportunities that Ukraine MUST take to the full.

The old problem of the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land still creates restraint towards foreign investment. But we all live in hope that soon, the ban will be lifted and serious thought can be given towards the utilisation of the rich fertile land in this country.

We intend to provide further information soon via our web site on the opportunities of agri investment in Ukraine.

Agricultural Investment in Ukraine

The next networking meeting of the BBCU will be at Ciros Pomodoro restaurant in Kyiv on Tuesday 7 July. The theme: Agricultural Investment in Ukraine is timely as many consider agriculture to be one of the many sectors still ripe and ready for serious development.

Ukraine still has the opportunity to become a major food producer for EU markets.
Investment and Management are the key to making Ukrainian farms more productive and profitable.

More feedback after the meeting next week.