Korean Job Discussion Forums

[theevilgenius]

In the jobs i've been looking at I've noticed that you need to get a health check done to get your ARC and was wondering do you have to find a hospital or doctor when you get there or will someone at the hagwon help me get it?? How did you get yours?

[northway]

Your school will handle most of it.

[ttompatz]

[theevilgenius]

Thanks!

[ephemeral]

The health check is a bit of a joke. I know a guy who went to Korea super ill. In fact, he looked like he was DYING. He totally passed the health check, but a month or two after arriving he was hospitalized.

[JD_Tiberius]

Its a huge joke, I have failed the health check because I was diagnosed with hypertension and proteinuria, which is a symptom of hypertension. My only guess is that I developed it in the run up to arriving in Korea because the whole process is a ton and a half of stress and nightmare fuel.

The Proteinuria itself only appeared after my 20 hour flight here(characterised by foamy urine) and is relatively mild, but its causing immigration the freak the crap out and I have been told that if I dont pass another medical exam (my third) next week then i will not get my ARC.
Suffice to say, this is not the kind of thing you want to hear when you are in the process of normalising your blood pressure.
Its so damn stupid too, I've been given no assistance in getting my BP (BP in first test: 145, BP in second test 140 then 146 after I was asked to retest having been told I failed, of course I'm gonna be panicking!) down to get rid of the proteinuria (ACE inhibators would elminate it completely within days), I've just been told, get rid of it or else. The rest of my medical test I passed with flying colours, blood tests where perfect and disease , drugs and diabetes, the three biggest no no's have all been ruled out.

Yes I know that Proteinuria can be serious as it can indicate kidney damage at worst, but all signs point to it just being a warning that my body is under strain from stress, and who can blame it really? Its bad enough it has to cope with the stress of the red tape in getting here, the stress of leaving family and friends, the stress of being alone in a foreign land (exacerbated by not being allowed a damn mobile phone or my own internet connection because I don't have an alien card), the stress of culture shock, without having to add the fear of being kicked out of the country to it.

I'll add that I am only 23 and of a healthy weight(Even Koreans say this)too, so its not like I'm some old guy who is about to keel over, Even if my BP continues to remain high, I'ts still at least 2 decades before my kidneys begin to fail if nothing is done(and I've already made drastic changes to my diet that involves consuming tea for breakfast, garlic every day, a walk around town every day, a glass of red wine at night and a limit of 1g of sodium a day)

[oldtactics]

I just went for my second one today - college didn't arrange anything but I didn't really need help. Showed up at the hospital information desk, told them I needed my medical for immigration, gave them a phone number and ID, and that was it. Someone led me to the various stations and then I was on my way. Took maybe 15 minutes total, in a city hospital.

Your school should help you out, but if not, choose a large hospital and they'll have someone who can speak English well enough to direct you to the right area. Nothing to worry about, good luck!

edit: just noticed ttompatz' comment about needing to go to a 'designated' hospital - I wasn't aware that there were specially designated hospitals for the immi check. Might be worth posting on the facebook group for your town or city to ask them where they had theirs done, just to make sure you're heading to one that is on the list.

[maingman]

conTact

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hope it helps!