Public hospital, Srah Chak, Khan Daun Penh.
Calmette Hospital
Cambodia’s flagship public hospital — around 250 beds on Monivong Boulevard, the national referral centre, and where an ambulance will usually take you.
Show this to your driver
មន្ទីរពេទ្យកាល់ម៉ែត
Say “montir pet Kalmet”. On Preah Monivong Boulevard at the north end of the centre, a few minutes north of Central Market — every tuk-tuk driver knows it by name.
Romanised, roughly “montir pet Kalmet”; the French form, L’Hôpital Calmette, is still in use.
- TypePublic — Ministry of Health national referral and teaching hospital, built and still supported with French assistance
- BedsAbout 250
- AddressNo. 3, Preah Monivong Boulevard (93), Sangkat Srah Chak, Khan Daun Penh, Phnom Penh 120210
- Switchboard+855 23 426 948
- Hotline+855 11 426 948
- Ambulance, nationwide119
- Websitecalmette.gov.kh
- HoursThe hospital lists its emergency and ambulance service as available 24 hours, every day
- LanguagesKhmer; some English and French, mostly among senior doctors
- Opened1950
- On the mapOpen in Google Maps
The country’s main public hospital: a French-supported teaching and referral hospital on Monivong Boulevard with around 250 beds and the widest range of departments in the state system, including a surgical intensive care unit, neurosciences, cardiology, cancer services and maternity. It costs very little, it takes the cases nobody else will, and it is where a serious emergency in Phnom Penh most often arrives. It is also crowded, and the wards are a long way from what a Western visitor expects.
What it is known for
Being the top of the public system. Calmette is the Ministry of Health’s flagship referral and teaching hospital, attached to the University of Health Sciences and supported by France since it was built in the 1950s; it is named after Albert Calmette, the French bacteriologist. Around 250 beds, a surgical intensive care unit and centres for neurosciences, cardiology, cancer and maternity make it the most capable state hospital in Cambodia. That is a real distinction and also a limited one: it carries the load of a whole country on a budget no Western hospital would recognise, and being the best of the public options is not the same as being an alternative to the private ones.
Who it suits
Anyone without insurance and without the money for a private hospital; anyone whose case is urgent enough that the nearest capable emergency department is simply the right answer; and anyone brought here by an ambulance, which is where a 119 call in the centre of the city often ends. It is where an uninsured traveller with something genuinely serious will get the best care they can afford in Cambodia. It is not the place for a quick consultation in English about a stomach upset: expect queues, crowded wards, paperwork in Khmer and limited English outside the senior doctors. Bring a Khmer speaker if you possibly can.
Cost and insurance
Very little by any Western measure. A consultation, tests and medicine here cost a fraction of the same visit at Royal Phnom Penh or Sunrise Japan, and even an admission is affordable in cash. Payment is at the cashier, in United States dollars or riel. Insurers do not direct-bill public hospitals in Cambodia, so this is pay-and-claim without exception. Ask for an itemised receipt and for a medical report in English before you leave; both are routine requests on the day and considerably harder to obtain once you have gone home.
Getting there
On Preah Monivong Boulevard at the northern end of the city centre, a few minutes north of Central Market, ten minutes by tuk-tuk from the riverside and about half an hour from the airport in traffic. Monivong is one of the city’s main north-south arteries and every driver knows the hospital by name, which is not true of every address in Phnom Penh. For an ambulance dial 119; the hospital publishes a switchboard on +855 23 426 948 and a hotline on +855 11 426 948.
Details checked against the hospital’s own website, September 2026. Call before a non-urgent visit; in an emergency call 119 or the hospital’s own emergency line above. Travel information, not medical advice.
The other 4 hospitals in Phnom Penh
- Sunrise Japan Hospital Phnom PenhPrivate, about 50 beds, Chroy Changvar, over the Japanese Friendship Bridge.
- Central HospitalPrivate, Street 154, a block behind Central Market.
- Khmer-Soviet Friendship HospitalPublic, Street 271, south of the centre.
- Royal Phnom Penh HospitalPrivate, Russian Federation Boulevard, Sen Sok.