The Shivagakomarpaj Traditional Medicine Hospital

There are two dominant medical schools in Thailand with English instruction today: Wat Po in Bangkok and the Shivagakomarpaj Traditional Medicine Hospital in Chiang Mai. Both of these schools have the highest accreditation by the Thai government, and have long-standing reputations as medical facilities. Wat Pho is the oldest repository of Thai medical culture in Thailand, while Shivagakomarpaj (named after the Father Doctor) is an active traditional health clinic. While they are both, strictly speaking, part of the same Thai medical tradition, these two schools represent different styles of Thai massage. Although there are some differences, the two styles are relatively compatible, and may even appear to be indistinguishable to the untrained.

Chiang Mai is a center for the study and practice of traditional medicine of all types. There are Ayurvedic doctors, Chinese medical schools, and more Thai massage clinics per square kilometer than anywhere else in the country. Among these, the Shivagakomarpaj Traditional Medicine Hospital ranks as the foremost.

This facility, commonly known by its nickname “Old Medicine Hospital,” is one of the most prestigious traditional medicine centers in Thailand, and was the first in Chiang Mai to open its doors to Western tourists wishing to learn Thai massage. Their 10-day course continues to be among the best introductory class in Thai massage available. For those who speak Thai fluently, the hospital offers formal training programs in traditional Thai medicine as well.

The institution is part of a non-profit charitable endeavor known as the Shivagakomarpaj Foundation, which provides free healthcare to neighboring villages around Chiang Mai on Buddhist holidays. Six times per year, the entire staff—including Western students—piles into vans and heads out into the countryside to treat the villagers with herbs and massage. (Click here to see how you can help to fund this and other similar projects in Thailand through www.Shivago.org.)

Shivagakomarpaj’s main focus, however, is as traditional hospital. Patients are treated with massage, saunas, and traditional herbal remedies by mo boran (traditional doctors), and can receive the entire range of traditional Thai therapies under one roof. The three branches of Thai medicine are represented in the very architecture of the hospital itself.

The founder of the Old Medicine Hospital was Ajahn Sintorn Chaichakan (Ajahn is an honorific title given to respected teachers, which could be translated as “Master”), who studied traditional Thai medicine at Wat Pho in the late 1950s. Formal training as a "mo boran," or traditional physician, is a 4-year university-level curriculum in traditional pharmacology, herbal theory, and massage practice. Upon completing the degree in 1958, he stayed on as a teacher for four more years. Before that time, Wat Pho did not teach Thai massage, and at the personal request of King Rama IX, Ajahn Sintorn was instrumental in starting the massage program to complement the herbal training Wat Pho had offered for many years.

In 1962, he returned to Chiang Mai and began to practice medicine at small dispensaries on the grounds of several city temples. At this time, the government of Thailand was only interested in supporting Western medicine, and Thai traditions were kept alive by their association with Buddhist institutions. Back in the north of Thailand, Ajahn Sintorn adapted his practice of massage and herbal medicine to incorporate aspects of northern culture. One important change he made to the Wat Pho massage routine was to slow it down, he says to suit the “laid-back style” of Chiang Mai natives. He also focused on local herbal knowledge, incorporating treatments that were not part of the Wat Pho tradition into his pharmacopoeia.

In 1973, Ajahn Sintorn purchased land just outside of Chiang Mai center and established the current hospital. With only a small grant from the government to start up, the facilities were quite small at that time, with only 10 hospital beds. From these humble beginnings, the hospital grew to the current size. In the 1990s, the program graduated an average of 60-70 Thai students per year in traditional medicine, and the Western students of Thai massage numbered well into the hundreds. Along with Wat Pho, the Old Medicine Hospital is part of both national and regional efforts to standardize and regulate the massage industry, to improve safety and authenticity of traditional healthcare in the years to come.

Ajahn Sintorn remained the director of the Old Medicine Hospital facility until his passing away on Oct 19, 2005, and the hospital's affairs are managed today by his sons, Suthat and Wasan. (Suthat teaches the practice portion of the English-language courses, and Wasan teaches the theory portion.) As the next generation assumes control of the hospital’s affairs, some changes (such as a new website, www.thaimassageschool.ac.th) have been made to help the hospital compete for students and clients in the modern marketplace. Nonetheless, the Chaichakan family has always prioritized tradition over financial success, and continues to adhere closely to the Thai model of healthcare. Those who are looking for a traditional experience of Thai medicine in a truly authentic environment—whether for study or for a short visit to the sauna—can do no better than the Old Medicine Hospital. Just remember on your way in to stop at the altar and give a "wai" to Jivaka!