Public hospital, Thai Mueang town.

Thai Mueang Chaipat Hospital

The small community hospital at the southern end of the coast — the nearest hospital to Thap Lamu pier, where the Similan boats leave.

Ambulance and medical emergency: 1669. Tourist Police: 1155. Police: 191.

Show this to your driver

โรงพยาบาลท้ายเหมืองชัยพัฒน์

Say “rong phayaban Thai Mueang”. On Phetkasem Road in Thai Mueang town, about twenty minutes south of Thap Lamu pier and half an hour from Khao Lak.

Usually shortened to โรงพยาบาลท้ายเหมือง, and that short form is what to say to a driver.

A Ministry of Public Health community hospital on Phetkasem Road in Thai Mueang town, at the southern end of the Khao Lak coast. It is deliberately small — a community hospital, not a general one — but it is much the nearest hospital to Thap Lamu port, about 24 km away against 44 km to Takuapa Hospital, which makes it the first stop for anyone coming off a Similan boat with something that will not wait.

What it is known for

Position, mostly. Thai Mueang district is the long thin strip running down the coast from Lam Kaen to Natai, and this is its hospital: a community hospital in the ministry’s ranking, meaning everyday medicine, outpatient clinics and a modest inpatient ward rather than specialists or a big theatre list. What makes it matter to visitors is Thap Lamu, the port that almost every Similan liveaboard and day boat sails from, roughly 24 km down the road. The nearest alternative, Takuapa Hospital, is 44 km the other way. Anything beyond its scope is referred north to Takua Pa, or south to the private hospitals in Phuket.

Who it suits

Anyone staying at Thai Mueang, Lam Kaen, Natai or the quieter southern beaches, and divers and day-trippers using Thap Lamu who need something dealt with before or after a trip — an ear infection, a cut foot, a stomach bug, a course of antibiotics. It is not the place for a serious injury or anything complicated, and it is emphatically not where a decompression case goes; that is Phuket. If the problem is not urgent, telephone first rather than turning up, and expect very little English.

Cost and insurance

The cheapest care on this coast, at ordinary Thai public-hospital rates — a consultation and medicine will cost less than lunch at a beach resort. Pay at the cashier before you leave. This is a small hospital and it sees fewer foreign patients than the ones up the coast, so the paperwork a claim needs may take longer to produce: ask clearly for an itemised receipt and an English-language medical certificate, and be prepared to wait for them. Direct billing to a foreign insurer is not on offer, so pay and claim.

Getting there

On Phetkasem Road, Highway 4, in Thai Mueang town at 166 Moo 9, which is about 24 km and a little over twenty minutes from Thap Lamu pier and roughly 40 km and half an hour from Khuk Khak in Khao Lak. Any bus or songthaew on the Phuket to Takua Pa road passes it. The switchboard is +66 76 571 505; for an ambulance call 1669. Tell a driver “rong phayaban Thai Mueang” — the short form of the name is what everybody uses locally.

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 2 hospitals in Khao Lak and Phang Nga

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