The Lao Ministry of Health has ordered a nationwide re-inspection of private medical and beauty facilities after finding 183 beauty centers performing medical procedures without a license.
Health Minister Baikham Khattiya disclosed the findings on 7 October at the 2nd Ordinary Session of the 10th National Assembly, where lawmakers questioned her on oversight of private treatment and beauty centers.
Authorities are running inspections to see how many more unauthorized clinics and hospitals are out there. Nationwide, only 46 private hospitals, 23 treatment centers, and 2,076 clinics operate legally.
The ministry urged individuals and legal entities running unauthorized medical and beauty businesses to register promptly. Facilities must pass strict inspections before approval.
Crackdown underway
Earlier...
Laos will keep domestic fuel reserves at around 60 million liters or more and encourage companies to buy from multiple countries as the government seeks to reduce the risk...
Laos’ economy grew 4.8 percent in the first nine months of 2026, Prime Minister Saleumxay Kommasith told lawmakers on 5 October, crediting manufacturing, private investment, electricity, trade and tourism-related...
Laos and Thailand have moved a planned 820-meter bridge in Luang Prabang Province into the next stage of development, with the project’s environmental and social impact assessment and detailed...
Bolikhamxay is finalizing land compensation rates for the Vientiane-Hanoi Expressway, pushing forward a major infrastructure project designed to link landlocked Laos with Vietnamese seaports.
Local officials met with affected households...
The Lao central bank plans to resume accepting applications to establish new non-bank financial institutions by the end of 2026, after suspending new applications earlier this year to review...
Vientiane’s Smart Clean-Cooling Road System pilot project has reached 95 percent completion, and contractors expect to finish all work in October, the contractor said.
The project is the first of...
Laos is revising how tourism business licences are issued and enforced, dividing responsibilities among central, provincial, and district authorities, Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Suanesavanh Vignaket said at the National Assembly meeting on 7 October.
The Ministry will retain control over foreign-invested tourism businesses and international tour operators, according to Suanesavanh. It will also oversee national tour-guide badges, temporary guest-reception certificates, and the registration of tour-group leaders. The ministry can suspend or revoke licences when businesses break the law.
Provincial tourism departments will handle most tourism businesses operating within their jurisdictions, while district and city offices will oversee accommodation businesses, including guesthouses and homestays, and other businesses with registered capital...
Laos expects to welcome between 5 and 6 million international tourists in 2026, with Chinese visitors projected to account for around 2 million of that total, according to government estimates.
The numbers will be...
Laos hosted the Mekong Tourism Forum 2025 in Luang Prabang from 24 to 27 June, spotlighting the proposed ASEAN Rail Tourism Corridor (ARTC) as a key initiative to boost regional travel and connectivity.
Held...
The Lao Ministry of Health has ordered a nationwide re-inspection of private medical and beauty facilities after finding 183 beauty centers performing medical procedures without a license.
Health Minister Baikham Khattiya disclosed the findings on 7 October at the 2nd Ordinary Session of the 10th National Assembly, where lawmakers questioned her on oversight of private treatment and beauty centers.
Authorities are running inspections to see how many more unauthorized clinics and hospitals are out there. Nationwide, only 46 private hospitals, 23...
Laos is preparing to compete in 12 sports at the 14th ASEAN Para Games in Kuala Lumpur next October.
The Lao team has proposed entering athletics, swimming, powerlifting, boccia, women’s goalball, men’s blind football,...
Laos continues working to develop chess among younger generations.
A group of young Lao players has returned from Singapore with 12 medals after gaining international experience against competitors from across Asia and beyond.
Team Laos...
In the forests of Laos, observation comes before words for Souksamlan “Toun” Laladeth.
That idea inspired the title of his debut visual anthology, Where the Forests Have No Words, officially launched on 5 October in Vientiane*.*
"People call me a conservation and nature photographer. But really, I'm just a simple person, nothing more," Toun said.
Toun’s connection with nature began easily in life. Growing up in the northern Bokeo Province, his mother taught him which forest vegetables were safe to eat, while his father, a local hunter, taught him how to track animals.
“Nature and forest, they cannot speak,” Toun says. “Spending time in nature is key to understanding its language.”
Years later, as he began working professionally in the forest, Toun learned more from experienced animal trackers in South Africa and Northern Europe. They taught him how to move silently in the forest, observe his surroundings closely, and think like the animals he was following.
"If you want to see wildlife, you have to think like wildlife, you have to move like wildlife, you have to act like wildlife," Toun said.
In 2009, Toun began working in the Nam Kan National Park as a porter,...
