Public hospital, Sathan Phayaban Road, south of the clock tower.
Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital
The far north’s public regional hospital — some 770 beds, every major department and the province’s serious cases, a ten-minute walk south of the clock tower.
Ambulance and medical emergency: 1669. Tourist Police: 1155. Police: 191.
Show this to your driver
โรงพยาบาลเชียงรายประชานุเคราะห์
Say “rong phayaban Chiang Rai” — the full name is Chiang Rai Prachanukroh. About 700 metres south of the clock tower on Sathan Phayaban Road, a ten-minute walk from the old town.
- TypePublic — Ministry of Public Health regional hospital for Chiang Rai province
- BedsAbout 773
- Address1039 Sathan Phayaban Road, Wiang, Mueang Chiang Rai, Chiang Rai 57000
- Switchboard+66 53 910 600
- Switchboard, older line+66 53 711 300
- Websitecrhospital.org
- LanguagesThai; limited English, mostly among the doctors and in the emergency room
- Opened1937
- On the mapOpen in Google Maps
The big public hospital for Chiang Rai and the hill districts beyond it. Founded in 1937 with money raised by the townspeople — that is what prachanukroh means — it has grown into a Ministry of Public Health regional hospital of well over 700 beds that trains doctors for Chiang Mai University and takes the difficult cases from every district hospital in the province. Cheap, competent and crowded, with paperwork mostly in Thai.
What it is known for
Size and reach. Chiang Rai Prachanukroh is the Ministry of Public Health’s regional hospital for the province, with around 770 beds, every major department and a medical education centre that trains Chiang Mai University students on its wards. It is the hospital that the district hospitals at Mae Sai, Chiang Saen, Mae Chan and up in the hills refer their difficult cases to, and the one 1669 crews usually head for with a serious road accident. The name records the public subscription that built it in 1937 — prachanukroh means roughly “the people’s support” — and locals still tend to call it simply the Chiang Rai hospital.
Who it suits
Travellers without insurance who need real care at a price they can pay, anyone seriously hurt for whom it is the right hospital regardless of money, and long-stay residents on Thai social security. It is not the place for a quick English-language consultation: the outpatient queues are long, the wards are crowded, the forms are in Thai and English is patchy outside the emergency room and the doctors’ offices. Bring a Thai-speaking friend if you can, and expect to spend most of a day on anything that is not an emergency. For a minor complaint with money to spare, Overbrook is a fifteen-minute walk away and far quicker.
Cost and insurance
Public-hospital prices. Foreigners are charged more than Thai citizens but still a fraction of what any private hospital in the city bills for the same treatment; a consultation, basic tests and medicine typically cost less than a night in a mid-range hotel. Payment is in cash or by card at the cashier before you leave. Insurers almost never direct-bill a public hospital, so expect to pay and claim, and ask for an itemised receipt and a medical certificate in English before you go — both are routine requests, but you have to make them. Bring your passport.
Getting there
On Sathan Phayaban Road — literally “hospital road” — about 700 metres south of the clock tower and a similar distance west of Bus Terminal 1 by the night bazaar: a ten-minute walk from most old-town hotels, or a couple of minutes by tuk-tuk, songthaew or Grab. Say “rong phayaban Chiang Rai” and any driver will take you. The emergency entrance and the outpatient hall are on different sides of a large campus, so tell the driver which you need; in a real emergency call 1669 rather than making your own way.
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 4 hospitals in Chiang Rai
- Overbrook HospitalPrivate, about 246 beds, Singhaklai Road, by the Kok River.
- Kasemrad Sriburin HospitalPrivate, about 120 beds, Highway 1, south of the centre.
- Bangkok Hospital Chiang RaiPrivate, about 80 beds, Highway 1, north of the airport turning.
- Mae Sai HospitalPublic, Phahonyothin Road, Mae Sai, south of the border bridge.