Hospitals in Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao

Koh Samui is the medical hub of the Gulf islands. Everything serious from Koh Phangan and Koh Tao ends up here, by speedboat, ferry or helicopter, and the island itself — with its airport, its villas and its steady flow of scooter accidents — supports a choice that few resort islands can match: an internationally accredited private hospital of the Bangkok Hospital group, three smaller private hospitals of varying age and price, a modern private hospital opened in 2023, and a 167-bed public general hospital in Nathon. Koh Phangan has a public community hospital and a private one in Thong Sala; Koh Tao has a ten-bed public hospital by the pier and, since 2023, its own recompression chamber.

This page lists eight hospitals across the three islands 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 in September 2026 against each hospital’s own website where one works — two of the private hospitals have none — and otherwise against at least two directories that agree; switchboards change, so if a number fails, call 1669.

The 8 at a glance

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

The hospitals

Which hospital should I go to?

For anything serious on Samui, with insurance, go to Bangkok Hospital Samui on the ring road in Bophut: internationally accredited, with the trauma department and the evacuation boat that the other islands rely on. For a minor illness or injury around Chaweng, Thai International Hospital, opposite Lotus’s on the ring road, is a 24-hour private hospital at lower prices; Bandon International Hospital in Bophut and Samui International Hospital at the north end of Chaweng are the older, smaller private options. Wattanapat Hospital Samui (+66 77 965 889), opened in 2023 on the ring road between Chaweng and Bophut, is a modern 53-bed private hospital worth knowing about too. Without insurance, Koh Samui Hospital in Nathon is the public general hospital. On Koh Phangan use First Western Hospital in Thong Sala or the public Koh Phangan Hospital; on Koh Tao, Koh Tao Hospital in Mae Haad. In a genuine emergency, the nearest of any of them, or 1669.

What will it cost?

Three tiers, as everywhere in Thailand. Koh Samui Hospital, Koh Phangan Hospital and Koh Tao Hospital charge public-hospital prices: foreigners pay more than Thais, but a consultation, tests and medicine still usually come to less than a night in a mid-range hotel, and even an admission is affordable. Thai International, Bandon and Samui International are mid-market private hospitals that charge a few times that for the same outpatient visit and want a deposit if you are admitted; First Western on Koh Phangan sits in the same band. Bangkok Hospital Samui is priced like the Bangkok flagships, which is to say like a Western private hospital: with insurance it is worth every baht, without it a serious admission runs into the hundreds of thousands of baht, and an evacuation by boat or helicopter from the smaller islands is billed on top. Ask for a written estimate before any procedure, at any of them.

Insurance, deposits and paperwork

Thai private hospitals are used to travel insurance and 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 line on your policy before you go: it can name the hospital it prefers, open the claim and, from Koh Phangan or Koh Tao, authorise the transfer to Samui, which is where the real cost starts. Take your passport, your policy number and any medication you are on, and after a scooter crash the rental agreement and your licence: the compulsory motor insurance on a rented bike covers some injury costs, but only for a licensed rider, and travel insurers routinely refuse scooter claims from unlicensed ones. Ask for an itemised receipt and an English-language medical certificate before you leave.

Getting there and ambulances

Every hospital on this list runs its own ambulance, and the private ones will send one when you call the number on its page; Bangkok Hospital Samui also runs a 24-hour evacuation service by boat. The national ambulance number is 1669, free, and it takes you to the nearest appropriate hospital, which for an uninsured patient usually means the public one. On Samui, for anything that can wait ten minutes a Bolt or Grab car is the quickest way round the island; songthaews are cheap but slow, and a motorbike is no place for an injury. Distances are small — Chaweng to Bangkok Hospital Samui is about ten minutes, Chaweng to Nathon about thirty — but the ring road is one lane each way and crawls through Chaweng and Lamai in the evening. On the smaller islands nothing is far, but the roads to the far beaches are steep and unlit.

Koh Phangan, Koh Tao and the boats

Koh Phangan’s Full Moon Party at Haad Rin produces a night of glass cuts, fire-rope burns, falls, scooter crashes and alcohol and drug emergencies. Both Koh Phangan hospitals handle it, and Bangkok Hospital Samui keeps a 24-hour branch at Baan Tai, Phangan International Hospital (+66 77 429 559), which stabilises and transfers; anything beyond the island goes to Samui by speedboat ambulance, about half an hour in calm weather. From Koh Tao the crossing is around two hours, so a serious case is stabilised at Koh Tao Hospital first. Divers: Koh Tao has had its own recompression chamber since 2023, run by the SSS Chamber Network in Mae Haad (24-hour line +66 81 081 9777); the network no longer lists a Samui chamber, so ask your dive operator which they would use, and tell any hospital you have been diving. Boats stop in rough seas; October to December can hold everything up for a day.

Pharmacies

For a cold, a stomach upset, a rash or a hangover you do not need a hospital. Thai pharmacies sell most everyday medicines over the counter, including antibiotics and painkillers that need a prescription at home, and a licensed pharmacist — look for the framed certificate — will usually speak enough English to advise. The chain pharmacies in Central Samui and along Chaweng Beach Road are the easy option; Thong Sala and Haad Rin on Koh Phangan, and Mae Haad and Sairee on Koh Tao, all have independent pharmacies that stay open late. Check expiry dates, treat a fever that lasts more than two days as a hospital matter — dengue is present on all three islands and needs a blood test, not a pharmacy — and get any cut from coral, a scooter or Haad Rin glass properly cleaned, because tropical wounds infect fast.

Koh Samui and Koh Tao travel guide / Koh Samui tourist map / Koh Phangan tourist map / Koh Tao tourist map / Koh Samui hotels / Thailand visa guide / Thailand destinations / Hospitals in Thailand / Hospitals in Thailand / All hospitals

Travel information, not medical advice.

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