In the post-Soviet countries, the term sanatorium^[a] is generally used to refer to a combination resort/recreational facility and a medical facility to provide short-term complex rest and medical services. It is similar to a spa resort, but with medical services.

In countries of the former Warsaw Pact, sanatoria are hotels with health resort facilities and services such as massage, pools, saunas, aromatherapy, and oxygen therapy not covered by medical insurance; they are spa resorts catering to healthy people seeking a restful respite from their jobs. For example, Sanatorium Astória^[1] and others located in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, or the Geneva Sanatorium Hotel, Ukraine, serve this purpose.^[2] A doctor's prescription is usually not required. However, a general practitioner is available for guests to have a medical check-up at the beginning and end of their stay.

Sanatoriums first began to achieve prominence in the Soviet Union in the early 1920s, with the introduction of the Labour Code of the Russian SFSR, which established basic recommendations and standards for Russian workers (distinct labour codes of the Union Republics would later be standardized in 1970).^[3][4] This Labour Code guaranteed at least two weeks of annual leave for all workers,^[5] recommending that it be spent at a sanatorium for health reasons. A medical professional would recommend a place and duration of stay, typically ranging from 24 days to 10 months, and the worker would file a form (putyevka) for the recommended stay. The cost was partly or completely covered by unions or health insurance. By 1990, sanatoriums in the Soviet Union could hold up to 50,000 guests at once.^[4] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many sanatoriums fell into disrepair and some became refugee camps, but a number of sanatoriums across the former Union Republics are still in operation.^[4] Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan was known for such sanatoria, some of which have been refurbished.^[6][7]