Marigold flowers at Wat Tham Phousi temple Luang Prabang

Thailand and Laos

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Thailand is boasting itself as nr.1 medical tourism destination in the world counted by number of visitors, but mostly major surgical procedures are contributing to that ranking. Or at least it used to be some years back, but as the industry is changing fast the current nr.1 is difficult to rank(2017). India might have taken lead. In Thailand Bumrungrad being at forefront in allopathic side. It was the first Asian hospital that got Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited in 2002. Nevertheless, it’s spa holidays are popular too. After doing some research and talking with people I found out the detox programs that many places offer are not that cheap actually. One may end up paying more than 1500 USD for a seven days fasting on juices and doing some petty yoga in a retreat. But if that’s what you are looking for and you have money to burn, I am sure it will be great experience. And maybe one day I will review one of those myself, once I have saved some money again. Those actually belong to a wellness tourism sector which could be considered as growing sub-category within medical tourism in Thailand.

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In South-East Asia acupuncture is not actually considered alternative or integrative therapy at all, but instead belonging to TCM(Traditional Chinese Medicine) holding thousands of years of tradition. For those who do not know, also many scientific studies have been made of the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine for number of ailments. Personally I was looking for something that may help my sleeping problems, more specifically secondary insomnia. I managed to mess up with some detox experiments that made me wake up 2-3 hours too early. For extended period of time, let me use such a round indefinite expression, I have been forced to sleep in two parts until recently when I have finally discovered what probably happened. But I will expand it later.

So this time I am first sharing my experience of mostly on acupuncture and bio-resonance therapies because I could not find any site on web that would list and review the best clinics that offer TCM treatments for instance in the northern capital Chiang Mai. But I will feature shortly some ozone and chelation therapy providers too as this site is expanding and developing all the time when new information is gathered. Anti-Aging medicine and wellness tourism is also growing and there has been international events and seminars around the theme. (UPDATE: Now there are places like Absolute Health, Balavi Center and Chiang Mai Ayurvedic Center featured that offer invasive ozone and chelation therapy or only ozone cabin in case of Ayurvedic center)

reflexology points

Chiang Mai has more affordable prices than the southern tourist islands or Bangkok in almost every aspect. Starting from real estate prices and rents and guest houses and food. All that is possible because it is still mainly a Thai city for Thai people, not artificially developed tourist hub like Phuket. Therefore you can mingle with locals and be more even in what comes to your options as customer choosing business. And Bangkok as a metropolitan city has other reasons for being more expensive. Nevertheless, medical tourism in Thailand is spread out to wide array of options location and procedure wise. Whether you like the northern cooler and cultural atmosphere, or the cosmopolitan Bangkok or beach oriented destinations like Phuket, Pattaya or Hua Hin. Some of the biggest hospitals and out-patient clinics have branches almost country wide. One of them is Absolute Health.

Laos, which is not really on the map for medical tourism, came on my way as a place to experiment with acupuncture just by making the famous loop going from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang by slow boat and down to Vientiane and all the way back to Bangkok. Laos does not have clinics providing ozone therapy or chelation and even less likely bioresonance therapies as far as I know, but Thailand has plenty. Their prices are higher than in India though. But when it comes to acupuncture Laos might be among the cheapest places to get sessions done professionally. I paid like 5USD(40 000LAK) for a session including moxibustion that some more sophisticated clinics avoid because of the smoke issues. I got to prove the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, especially the moxabustion at the Dr. Khamkongs clinic.


MUNGKALA, Chiang Mai

DR. SHENG ZHONG WANG, Chiang Mai

CENTER OF THAI TRADITIONAL AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE, TTCM, Chiang Mai

PATSA CLINIC, Chiang Mai

FAH LANNA SPA, Chiang Mai

ABSOLUTE HEALTH, Chiang Mai

BALAVI NATURAL HEALTH CENTER, Chiang Mai

CHIANG MAI AYURVEDIC CENTER, Chiang Mai

DR.PREMGAMONE – CORE BIORESONANCE, Khon Kaen

MAHOSOT HOSPITAL / DR.SYCHANH KHAMKONG, Vientiane

FOOD AND SHELTER


For those who want to try out, and for saving you some time on researching, here are few clinics and detox retreats that I have not reviewed or experimented yet myself, but will do as soon as I can;

First to mention is Panacee Medical Center (formerly named as Villa Medica), a branch of old German clinic in Bangkok. Their prices are on the western level so it is probably not really a right one to be reviewed on this website. Still they receive clients from USA for instance where in most states those therapies are still forbidden. I heard they even have had celebrity clientele from Hollywood. And Dr.Lenny DaCosta from Goa, India has given lectures for the staff as well. I’m not sure what really happened with the name, but it almost look like the Asian partnership company and investors have “hijacked” the formerly German company and labeled even the German branch with the new Asian sounding name.

Panacee Medical Center
Address: 2/55-57 3rd Floor Bangkok Mediplex Center Building, Sukhumvit 42 Phrakhanong, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110
Tel : +66(0)85-8623333, 084-9712222, 081-9481033
E-mail : info@panacee.com
https://panacee.com/index.php

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Add Life Anti-Aging Center is another one, which is actually first of it’s kind in Thailand. I visited there shortly on my last trip when I was on my way to airport, but the head doctors were not there at the moment and I didn’t have time to take any treatments. Maybe next time. They are located in Life Center just next to the Lumpini MRT station.

Address: Q House Lumpini Building, Second Floor, Room 207-208, 1 South Sathorn Road, Bangkok 10120, Thailand
E-mail: info@add-life.org

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In terms of TCM there is at least one acupuncturist in Luang Prabang, Laos as far as I know, Mrs Somchit, but I did not go to see her at the massage center. She is trained in Vientiane. Her prices are double the prices of Mahosot Hospital.

Peninsula Sauna & Massage Centre
Tel: +856 (0) 20 55675282 or +856 (0) 71 253 411
Opening hours: 10.00AM – 8.00PM


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