LEBANON First-year medical student Vitaliy Natkha spoke Russian as he led five physicians from Uzhhorod, Ukraine, on atour of the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest.

Natkha, who is attending the COMP-Northwest medical school in Lebanon, speaks fluent Russian because he was born in Berdyansk, Ukraine.

"It's been great," Natkha said of last week's tour. "There's big differences in the systems they have."

Nathka was translating for a delegation of visiting Ukrainian doctors who came to the mid-valley as part of a sister-city relationship between Uzhhorod and Corvallis.

In addition to the Lebanon stop, the visitors also attended events at Oregon State University, Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, Corvallis Family Medicine, The Corvallis Clinic and the state Capitol in Salem. They also squeezed in a sightseeing trip to the Oregon Coast.

Ukrainian physician Anzhela Dolgikh, who specializes in general practice and family medicine, said that the medical education system in the United States is different from learning medicine in Ukraine.

In Ukraine, students might study on the same cadavers for more than 20 years, she said. At COMP-Northwest, its anatomy lab brings in new donor patients every year.

"These cadavers are young," Dolgikh said after touring COMP-Norhwest's anatomy center.

Also, more technology is available, and students are allowed to practice on each other in the United States, shesaid. It's not legal for students to practice on each other in Ukraine.

Under the Ukrainian system, her medical education was comprised of lectures and exams, she said.

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Ukrainian doctors tour mid-valley