Phuket to get first “Health Promoting Hospital’ in Thailand

PHUKET: The Kamala Public Health Center will be home to the country’s first “Health Promotion Hospital”, incorporating traditional Chinese medicines into its array of medical services.

The center, part of a post-tsunami project which begun in 2005, is co-funded by the Chinese government.

Deputy Public Health Minister Pansiri Kulanartsiri said during an inspection of the site last week that the Chinese offered to help build a traditional medical center on the site, which was directly affected by the 2004 tsunami.

Under the agreement, the Chinese government will provide 30 million baht for development of the center and be responsible for the design of a new single-storey building that will stand beside the existing health center.

The new structure will cover 528 square meters of the 3,163 square meter plot, Ms Pansiri said.

To be completed next year, the center will initially offer health checkups and traditional Thai massages to both Thais and foreigners, she said.

It will be staffed by Kamala Health Center and Patong Hospital personnel as well as Chinese medicine practitioners who will come as part of an exchange program.

The Chinese experts will offer conventional and alternative medicines including Chinese and Thai traditional remedies.

Phuket Provincial Health Office Director Narinrach Pichyakamin told the Gazette, “It’s a good project. It gives people a choice in the kind of medical treatment they receive. The Ministry of Public Health is also promoting some alternative medical treatments and traditional Chinese medicine is now accepted internationally.”

— Sitthipong Nongkaew