Alhamdulillah done with medicals todays at IOM Karachi.
the experience was good but it took almost 8 hours to complete!
on phone I already took appointment for today at 9:30am. reach there and reported at the window at 9:15am, the kind lady said to wait 15 mins more! I was astonished at the punctuality of Pakistanis!
then at 9:30am they took my attendance in a register, gave me form and let me enter the facility. I took the token number and from this point the Great Wait started!
after 3 hours, at 12:30pm my turn came....before me there were only 15 applicants.....so they processed 16 applicants in 3 hours.....that's quiet slow!
anyways I approached the registration counter, they took my documents copies, fees and asked me to go for lab tests 1st.....registration took 30 mins.
1st test was eyes testing, weight and height.........done in 10 mins
2nd was urine sample....done in 10 mins
3rd was blood sample......done in 30 mins
4th was physical examination........done in 40 mins
till now I have spent 4:30 hours!
then I came back and waited for x-rays.it took 1 hour in waiting.........so it was 5:30 hours!
then they asked me to do the Polio vaccination also and submit the copy of certificate within 2 days...I asked can I do it today? they said yes but we are open till 5:30. its now a mandatory requirement of LVO for applicants from Pakistan. I asked what if I don't submit it.....they said it can delay ur app process by one month cos LVO will send u additional email to do polio vaccination, so better submit it along medicals to save time.
I rushed to Agha Khan Hospital, there it took 1:30 hours to do the polio vaccination!.........parking is at one corner and u have to travel through whole agha khan to reach the building near gate 1 to do vaccination!
went back to IOM and gave them the photocopies of certificate....total 7:45 hrs till yet!
overall experience was great in terms of staff friendliness, caring, support and cooperation. all doctors, lab staff and everyone was very cooperative and caring. even the guy at reception and even the security guards were all in very warm friendly mood and very casual in talks. the only thing that will kill u is WAITING TIME!
the docs said they will update LVO in 4 days....which they normally do. now they don't know how much time LVO takes to update the ECAS. as its Christmas and holiday season, so they said to expect any update in ecas minimum by 2nd week of Jan inshALlah.
NOTE: there is NO e-medical facility for Pakistani applicants in Pakistan. if u r doctor by profession then u have to go under 4 extra blood tests which includes Hepatitis A,B&C, TB and 2 more (I don't remember) and u have to pay for these additional tests. as my spouse is doctor but not the primary applicant, still she have to go under these tests. guys prepare ur POLIO Vaccine certificate prior to ur medicals, as it is mandatory requirement by LVO, so better to have it ready or u will have to rush like me, IOM don't tell this on phone but ask for it when u go for medicals.
