Hi,sorry i can't help you .However you may be able to give me some useful info.I am planning to move to Crete in a few years ,and i too have a thyroid problem .How expensive is the test and are the tablets to regulate the thyroid pricey .
Also did you have any problems getting health insurance.
Thanks chappy

Hi Fowles,Thanks for info .The Thyroxine is surprisingly cheap,and i only take a low dose.Blood test is pricey so the way you are having it seems a good idea.  chappy

If you have IKA it will all be covered by them although it takes a bit of running around as usual.

I haven't had my thyroid tested for about two years, yes really bad I know, so bare with me if I get things out of sequence and of course this could only apply to Rethymno, believe it or not the things can vary depending on whether IKA themselves have the relevant doctors or not. In Rethymno there is or there wasn't the last time I went, an IKA thyroid doctor.

I went to the private thyroid doctor who wrote out the tests, although now I believe that an IKA pathalogos can do this. Took receipt but never bothered to claim the money back for the visit which I could of done as IKA didn't have the relevant doctor on their staff. Then went to IKA they then re-wrote tests out on one of their forms. Some tests could be done by them, one for sure could only be done at the hospital, the scan on my thyroid could only be
done by one of the two private clinics who work together with IKA ( you don't pay as long as you have a paper from the IKA office) and any other tests could be done via a private microbiologist and the money claimed back as long as the original paper was stamped by IKA stating that the test couldn't be carried out by IKA themselves.

All results need to be retrieved from the various testing places and then back to doctor to tell you what's what, that's of course if you haven't suffered a heart attack due to the stress of the running a round. Perhaps now you know why I  haven't been for a couple of years!!

The new IKA building in Heraklion has a thyroid doctor ,and the  ultrasound machine to scan the thyroid there.

If you have an IKA book, you don`t pay for the blood tests or the ultrasound tests.

I am lucky enough to have a doctor in the village where I live, she made all the arrangements for me, but IKA still gave me the run around when I was there.

I was told I had to go to the local hospital for all the results, this was untrue as you get blood test results by 4 in the afternoon at IKA on the same day you get the tests.

The staff in IKA are notoriously xenophobic, they will give you the wrong information, they will make you run around and they will lie to you and have a good laugh with other staff over doing this to you.

If you ever have to go to IKA, ask if there are any Greeks waiting to be seen to that can speak English, and ask them to help you with your enquiries, most are very helpfull. One woman who was Greek was waiting for her results, seeing that I was treated badly ,she shouted at the woman behind the desk and told her she should be ashamed of herself for treating non Greeks in a bad way, she even said  " If you were in England , they wouldn`t treat you in this way". The missing test result paper was  soon found !