Hospitals in Hat Yai

Hat Yai is the biggest city in southern Thailand and the place the whole lower south comes for medicine: a university teaching hospital of 853 beds, a 700-bed regional hospital, the BDMS group’s southern flagship and two more private hospitals, all within a few kilometres of the railway station. It is also the land gateway to Malaysia, an hour from the Sadao and Padang Besar crossings, and much of the private hospitals’ business is Malaysians who drive up from Kedah, Perlis and Penang for planned treatment — which is why Malay is heard at reception desks here more than anywhere else in Thailand. Songkhla, the quieter provincial capital 30 km up the road, has a public hospital of its own.

This page lists all six with the practical detail: what kind of hospital it is, roughly how big, where it is, how to call it and how to find it on a map. Every name opens a full page on that hospital. Details were checked against each hospital’s own website in September 2026 — or, where that could not be reached, against two independent directories that agree; switchboards do change, so if a number fails, call 1669.

The 6 at a glance

Bed counts are approximate. Tap a name for the full page.

The hospitals

Which hospital should I go to?

For a serious emergency with insurance, or anything complicated, go to Bangkok Hospital Hat Yai: it has the broadest specialist cover, the imaging, the interpreters and the insurance desk. Sikarin Hatyai is the JCI-accredited alternative a step down in price, and a good choice for a suspected stroke or heart problem. For a minor illness or injury near the centre, Thonburi Rajyindee is the closest private hospital to the station and the cheapest of the three. Without insurance and seriously ill, Songklanagarind — the university hospital everyone calls Mor Or — is the best public medicine in the south; for a smaller problem on a budget, Hat Yai Hospital is cheaper and closer. Staying in Songkhla town or at Samila Beach? Songkhla Hospital is fifteen minutes away. In a life-or-death emergency go to the nearest emergency room of any of them, or call 1669 and let the ambulance crew decide.

What will it cost?

Roughly three tiers, all of them cheaper than Bangkok. The public hospitals — Hat Yai Hospital, Songklanagarind and Songkhla Hospital — charge foreigners more than Thais but still very little: a consultation, tests and medicine typically come to less than a night in a mid-range hotel, and even an admission is affordable. Thonburi Rajyindee and Sikarin charge a few times that for the same outpatient visit and expect a deposit if you are admitted. Bangkok Hospital Hat Yai is priced like the private hospitals of the capital, a little below its flagships: with insurance it is worth every baht, without it a serious admission runs into the hundreds of thousands of baht. Malaysians come here because the prices compare well with private care at home and the service is quick; that does not make them cheap for an uninsured backpacker. Ask for a written estimate before any procedure at any of them.

Insurance, deposits and paperwork

Thai hospitals are used to travel insurance, and the private ones will call your insurer for a guarantee of payment — but only if the insurer has a contract with them, and usually only for an admission; outpatient visits are almost always pay-and-claim. If there is time, phone the assistance number on your policy before you go: it can name the hospital it prefers and open the claim. Take your passport, your policy number, any medication you are on and, after a road accident, the rental agreement and your licence — the compulsory motor insurance on a rented scooter covers some injury costs, but only for a licensed rider. One point particular to this region: some policies exclude places under a government travel advisory, and the whole of Songkhla province appears in the U.S. one, so read the wording before you rely on cover here. Always ask for an itemised receipt and an English-language medical certificate before you leave.

Getting there and ambulances

Hat Yai is compact and flat, and five of the six hospitals are within 3 km of Hat Yai Junction railway station: Thonburi Rajyindee 1.5 km east, Hat Yai Hospital 1.5 km north, Sikarin 2 km north, Bangkok Hospital Hat Yai 2.5 km north-east on Phetkasem Road and Songklanagarind 3 km east on the university campus. Grab works in Hat Yai, tuk-tuks and motorbike taxis wait outside the station and along the Niphat Uthit roads, and every driver knows the hospitals by name. Songkhla Hospital is 30 km and about forty minutes away by taxi. The national ambulance number is 1669; it is free, and it takes you to the nearest appropriate hospital, which for an uninsured patient usually means Hat Yai Hospital or Songklanagarind. Bangkok Hospital Hat Yai answers the BDMS hotline 1719 from any Thai phone, and Thonburi Rajyindee publishes a direct accident-and-emergency line, +66 74 200 201.

Crossing from Malaysia

Hat Yai is about an hour from the border — roughly 60 km by road to the Sadao–Bukit Kayu Hitam crossing from Kedah, and 55 km to Padang Besar, where the railway crosses. Penang is the nearest big Malaysian city, around four hours by minivan or by train via Padang Besar and Butterworth, and Malaysians are the main medical-tourism flow here, so Malay is widely understood at the desks. Coming for treatment, bring your passport and any insurer’s guarantee letter, and check the entry rules in our Thailand visa guide. Stated plainly: the UK advises against all but essential travel to Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, to the Songkhla districts of Chana, Thepha, Na Thawi and Saba Yoi, and on the Hat Yai–Padang Besar railway line; the U.S. advisory lists all of Songkhla province at “reconsider travel”. Hat Yai itself is a busy, ordinary city, but read your own government’s advice and your policy wording.

Pharmacies

For a cold, a stomach upset, a rash or a hangover you do not need a hospital at all. Thai pharmacies sell most everyday medicines over the counter, including antibiotics and painkillers that would need a prescription at home, and a licensed pharmacist — look for the framed certificate — will usually speak enough English to advise; in Hat Yai many speak Malay too. The chains are in the malls, the independent pharmacies along the Niphat Uthit roads and around Kim Yong market stay open late, and the hospitals’ own dispensaries fill their doctors’ prescriptions on the spot. Check expiry dates, and see a doctor if a fever lasts more than a couple of days: dengue is present in Songkhla province all year and needs a blood test, not a pharmacy.

Thailand visa guide / Thailand destinations / Malaysia visa guide / Penang travel guide / U.S. travel advisories / Hospitals in Thailand / Hospitals in Thailand / All hospitals

Travel information, not medical advice.

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