Chao Phya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital, the Center for Excellence in Traditional and Herbal Medicine

This past week we visited the Chao Phya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital, the Center for Excellence in Traditional and Herbal Medicine.

What stood out about this hospital was that it manufactured, on an extremely large scale, their own herbal preparations. We got to tour some of their manufacturing facility and after passing through several air locks and were gowned to protect the sterility of their process, we got to see rooms where herbs are boiled, analyzed, mixed, and packaged. Additionally, this hospital is a major research facility and has numerous ongoing clinical trials for herbal products.

Although this facility prides itself in their expertise in herbal medicine, they offer modern, non-herbal medical services to patients as well. Only about twenty percent of the patients that visit this hospital choose to receive herbal therapy, however their medical staff interview the patients and refer them to specific services that they believe would treat them best.

The Center for Herbal Medicine is housed in a beautiful building that was once a palace to the royal family. They converted parts of the hospital to a museum that has ancient documents surrounding herbal remedies, as well as old containers, devices, and preserved herbal products from over time.

This visit was extremely interesting and it was neat to see two completely different medical practices seamlessly used together alongside modern research and manufacturing.

-Natalie