Egg Freezing & IVF in Laos

The healthcare system of Laos is in development. With room for growth, it is still in the process of working out management, infrastructure, and delivery of health and medical care programs. Medical services do not provide comprehensive options.

Medical tourists and expats rely on established hospitals such as Mittaphab Hospital, Alliance International Medical Centre, and Mahosot Hospital for their high-quality treatments and facilities. They also have the option of going to reputable outpatient clinics such as LMC Clinic Vientiane, Australian Embassy Clinic, and French Medical Center in Vientiane because they have English-speaking doctors and nurses.

Medical tourists are inclined to visit Laos for their famed Laos massage and herbal saunas. Massages come with warm herbal compress and various balms and salves. In an herbal sauna, you enter a wooden shack with a water drum on top of a wood fire. The boiling drum contains medicinal herbs with ingredients such as eucalyptus, tamarind, carambola, and citrus leaves, and it releases steam in the rooms.

What To Do in Laos During Your Medical Vacation

There are many cultural and geographical advantages to becoming a medical tourist in Laos. Southern Laos is the site of the Bolaven Plateau, a place filled with cultural and geographic wonders of nature. Take your choice of a boat trip to witness the waterfalls, a coffee plantation tour, a day trek with the elephants, or a cultural visit to one of the ethnic minority villages.

Laos has the distinction of being the most bombed country from 1964 to 1973. Tourists can join a tour of the Viengxay caves in Houaphanh Province. It served as a bomb shelter city for 23,000 people and it included schools, bakeries, a hospital, a radio station, a printing press, and offices that served as the starting ground of the communist leadership of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

The main safety problem for most tourists in Laos concerns the food they eat. Foreigners have yet to adjust their digestive systems to local food, especially those that contain raw meat (such as meat salad) and fish. Hydrate yourself when you encounter stomach problems. If it goes on for more than two days, seek medical help to avoid complications and to rule out severe illnesses such as Hepatitis A, dysentery, and giardia.

Dengue and malaria are common so always carry high-strength DEET lotions to protect yourself from these mosquito-borne diseases. Advise your children not to play with stray animals because rabies is common in the country.

Petty crimes are low in Vientiane but are more likely to happen in Vang Vieng. Stay out of dark streets at night and beware of motorbike-riding bag snatchers. News reports are tightly controlled in Communist Laos so rumors of bandits holding up buses and private vehicles are not confirmed.

With its history of being the most heavily bombed country in the world during the war, Laos still has many unexploded ordnance (UXO). The Laos government announced that most tourist areas do not have unexploded UXOs anymore, but exercise attention and caution whenever outside of Vientiane and other urban areas.

Respect cultural traditions and customs. Dress conservatively. Remove your shoes before entering monasteries. Do not touch Buddhist monks and Buddha images.

For transport and travel, Laos Airlines is the only domestic flight carrier option. The China-Laos Railway starts from Kuming, China and ends in Vientiane, Laos. This bullet train opened in 2021 and has a total of eight stations to stop over. Passengers usually take the bullet train to travel to and from Luang Prabang and Vientiane. Medical tourists prefer booking private transfers for long and short trips.

The official and most widely spoken language in the country is Lao or Laotian. There are 80 minority languages spoken. There are also immigration languages, such as the Khmer Chinese of the Cambodian refugees. Foreign languages spoken, especially in areas where tourists visit, are English and French.