When moving to another country, your child's medical documents are the hardest thing to reconstruct after the fact. Spend one evening before departure gathering and scanning the paperwork — it will save you weeks on the ground.
What to bring without fail
- the vaccination card or certificate with all vaccinations, dates and vaccine names;
- the maternity hospital discharge summary (for babies) — how the birth went, weight and length at birth;
- reports from specialist doctors, if your child is under observation for anything;
- results of recent significant tests, ultrasounds and other investigations;
- a list of the medicines your child takes regularly, plus allergy information.
How to store the documents
Carry the originals in your hand luggage, not in checked baggage. Scan or photograph every document and save the copies to a cloud account you can reach from your phone: copies help if something gets lost, and they are convenient to show at appointments. It is also worth writing out the key facts on a single page: date of birth, blood type (if known), chronic conditions, allergies and the list of completed vaccinations.
Are translation and an apostille needed?
For a pediatric appointment the originals are usually enough: the doctor will make sense of the main data, and the key facts can be written out briefly. Official institutions — kindergartens, schools, state bodies — may have different requirements, so check with the specific institution. Having everything certified in advance is usually unnecessary.
What to arrange once you are there
After moving to Batumi it makes sense to have an initial pediatric consultation within the first weeks: the doctor will record your child's health history and start local records. If your child is going to kindergarten or school, local medical certificates will be needed — they are issued after an examination. Also check the terms of your health insurance: whether it works in Georgia and what it covers.
One page that saves time at every appointment
Alongside the documents themselves it is handy to keep a one-page “medical summary” of your child — a page from which a doctor grasps the essentials in a minute. Update it after every significant event: a new vaccination, a hospital admission, a newly identified reaction.
- your child's full name and date of birth;
- blood type, if reliably known;
- chronic conditions, past operations and hospital admissions with dates;
- allergies and adverse reactions to medicines and vaccinations;
- the medicines your child takes regularly;
- contacts of the clinics where your child was seen before — for requesting records.
What people often forget
- height and weight over time — the doctor uses them to assess development, especially in babies;
- previous prescriptions, if your child is monitored for a chronic condition;
- the results of early newborn investigations and neonatal screening;
- the insurance policy and your child's identity document — both are needed when registering at a clinic.