Public hospital, Rama IV Road, Pathumwan (Silom).
King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital
The most central of Bangkok’s great public hospitals — the Thai Red Cross’s 1,400-bed teaching hospital on Rama IV Road opposite Lumphini Park, with an MRT station at the gate.
Ambulance and medical emergency: 1669. Tourist Police: 1155. Police: 191.
Show this to your driver
โรงพยาบาลจุฬาลงกรณ์
Say “rong phayaban Chula” — every driver knows it. On Rama IV Road opposite Lumphini Park at the Silom end; MRT Si Lom and BTS Sala Daeng are at its gate.
- TypePublic — Thai Red Cross Society; teaching hospital of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine
- BedsAbout 1,435
- Address1873 Rama IV Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330
- Switchboard+66 2 256 4000
- Switchboard, second line+66 2 649 4000
- Websitechulalongkornhospital.go.th/kcmh/en
- LanguagesThai; some English, more among the doctors
- Opened1914
- On the mapOpen in Google Maps
The Thai Red Cross Society’s hospital and the teaching hospital of Chulalongkorn University, opened in 1914 on Rama IV Road opposite Lumphini Park. Around 1,400 beds, every specialty in the country and a public tariff that is a fraction of the private hospitals’ — which is why it is the answer to a serious problem without insurance in central Bangkok.
What it is known for
Being the most central of the great public hospitals, and one of the largest in Thailand. King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital was opened by King Vajiravudh in 1914 and is run by the Thai Red Cross Society as the teaching hospital of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine. It has around 1,400 inpatient beds, every major department and many of the country’s leading specialists, who teach and practise here; complicated cases from across Thailand end up on its wards. For a visitor the significant facts are simpler: it is a public hospital, so it charges public prices, and it sits at the junction of Silom and Rama IV with an MRT station at the gate.
Who it suits
Travellers without insurance who need real treatment at a price they can pay, long-stay residents on Thai social security, and anyone in central Bangkok for whom it is simply the nearest big hospital in a crisis. It is not a quick English-language consultation: outpatient queues are long, forms are in Thai and English is patchy outside the doctors themselves, so bring a Thai-speaking friend if you can. With insurance and time, BNH is a few hundred metres away on Convent Road and will see you faster.
Cost and insurance
Public-hospital prices: foreigners pay a higher tariff than Thai citizens but still a small fraction of a private hospital’s bill for the same care. Payment is at the cashier; insurers almost never direct-bill a public hospital, so expect to pay and claim. Bring your passport, and ask for an itemised receipt and a medical certificate in English before you leave — both are routine requests, but you have to make them, and the paperwork otherwise comes in Thai.
Getting there
At the eastern end of Silom where it meets Rama IV Road, opposite Lumphini Park; MRT Si Lom station opens at the hospital gate and BTS Sala Daeng is a few minutes’ walk. The site is large, so ask for the emergency room or the outpatient building when you arrive. Taxis and Grab cars can drop you on Rama IV or Henri Dunant Road. Switchboard +66 2 256 4000; in an emergency call 1669 and the ambulance will bring you here if it is the nearest appropriate hospital.
Details checked against the hospital’s own website, September 2026. Call before a non-urgent visit; in an emergency call 1669 or the hospital’s own emergency line above. Travel information, not medical advice.
The other 9 hospitals in Bangkok
- Siriraj HospitalPublic, about 2,145 beds, Wang Lang pier, on the Thonburi bank opposite the old city.
- Ramathibodi HospitalPublic, about 1,023 beds, Rama VI Road, west of Victory Monument.
- Police General HospitalPublic, about 650 beds, Rama I Road at Ratchaprasong, by BTS Chit Lom.
- Bumrungrad International HospitalPrivate, about 580 beds, Sukhumvit Soi 3 (Nana Nua), near BTS Nana.
- MedPark HospitalPrivate, about 550 beds, Rama IV Road at Ratchadaphisek, by MRT Queen Sirikit Convention Centre.
- Bangkok HospitalPrivate, about 488 beds, Soi Soonvijai 7, off New Phetchaburi Road.
- Samitivej Sukhumvit HospitalPrivate, about 275 beds, Sukhumvit Soi 49, between BTS Phrom Phong and Thong Lo.
- Vejthani HospitalPrivate, about 263 beds, Lat Phrao Soi 111, Bang Kapi (east Bangkok).
- BNH HospitalPrivate, Convent Road, between Silom and Sathorn.