Surat Thani and Khao Sok, Thailand. 4 major hospitals, 1 public, 3 private.
Four hospitals — one very large public referral hospital and three private ones — with addresses, phone numbers, bed counts and maps, plus what happens if you are hurt at Khao Sok or out on the lake.
If you only read one thing
In a life-or-death emergency, the nearest emergency room of the four, or 1669 — free, and it works in the national park too.
Almost every traveller bound for Koh Samui, Koh Phangan or Koh Tao passes through Surat Thani and almost none of them stops. That is a pity in one narrow sense: the province holds the largest hospital anywhere on this stretch of the Gulf coast. Surat Thani Hospital is the Ministry of Public Health’s regional hospital for the upper south, with around 862 beds — five times the size of the public hospital on Samui — and it is the mainland end of the referral chain that the island hospitals belong to. Alongside it the city has a Bangkok Hospital group hospital on the bypass, a 200-bed private hospital in the centre and a small private one on the same road as the big public hospital. Khao Sok national park and Cheow Lan lake are in the same province, two hours west, where the picture is very different.
This page lists those four hospitals 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 — for two of the private hospitals that meant an archived copy, because their sites are no longer online — and cross-checked against Thai hospital directories. Switchboards change, so if a number fails, call 1669.
| Hospital | Type | Beds | Where | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surat Thani Hospital | Public | 862 | Si Wichai Road, Surat Thani city | +66 77 915 600 |
| Thaksin Hospital | Private | 200 | Talat Mai Road, city centre | +66 77 278 777 |
| Bangkok Hospital Surat | Private | 97 | Highway 420 bypass, Wat Pradu | +66 77 956 789 |
| Si Wichai Surat Thani Hospital | Private | Si Wichai Road, Makham Tia | +66 77 282 520 |
Bed counts are approximate. Tap a name for the full page.
The regional public hospital for the upper south — about 862 beds on Si Wichai Road, and the mainland hospital the province’s referral chain runs to.
56 Moo 2, Si Wichai Road, Makham Tia, Mueang Surat Thani, Surat Thani 84000
+66 77 915 600 / Website / Google Maps
Read the full pageThe city’s largest private hospital — 200 beds on Talat Mai Road in the centre of town, with an emergency room open 24 hours.
309/2 Talat Mai Road, Talat, Mueang Surat Thani, Surat Thani 84000
Read the full pageThe Bangkok Hospital group’s hospital for the upper south — a modern private hospital of about 97 beds on the bypass, open around the clock.
179, 179/1 Moo 1, Wat Pradu, Mueang Surat Thani, Surat Thani 84000
+66 77 956 789 / Website / Google Maps
Read the full pageA small private hospital on Si Wichai Road, about a kilometre from Surat Thani Hospital — the budget private option on that side of the city.
67/50 Moo 2, Si Wichai Road, Makham Tia, Mueang Surat Thani, Surat Thani 84000
Read the full pageFor a serious emergency with insurance, or anything complicated, go to Bangkok Hospital Surat on the Highway 420 bypass: it is the Bangkok Hospital group’s hospital here, it is open around the clock, and it is used to insurers and to foreign patients. Without insurance, or for anything genuinely serious, Surat Thani Hospital on Si Wichai Road is the province’s regional hospital and the one a free 1669 ambulance will take you to. For a minor illness or injury in the middle of town, Thaksin Hospital on Talat Mai Road is the city’s largest private hospital, with a 24-hour emergency room a short ride from the river piers. Si Wichai Surat Thani Hospital, a kilometre down Si Wichai Road, is the small, cheap private option. In a life-or-death emergency, the nearest emergency room of any of them, or 1669.
Three rough tiers, and the gaps between them are wide. Surat Thani Hospital charges public-hospital prices: foreigners pay more than Thai citizens and still far less than any private hospital in the city, and even an admission is affordable by Western standards. Thaksin and Si Wichai are mid-market and budget private hospitals respectively — a few times the public price for the same outpatient visit, with a deposit expected on admission. Bangkok Hospital Surat is priced like the group’s hospitals elsewhere, which is to say like a Western private hospital: with insurance it is the obvious choice, without it a serious admission runs into six figures in baht. Ask for a written estimate before any procedure, at any of them.
The private hospitals are used to travel insurance and will try to arrange a guarantee of payment — but only with insurers they hold a contract with, and usually only for an admission; outpatient visits are almost always pay-and-claim. Phone the assistance number on your policy before you go if there is time, because it can name the hospital it prefers and open the claim. The public hospital is different: insurers very rarely direct-bill it, so expect to pay at the cashier and claim afterwards. Take your passport, your policy number and a list of any medication you are on, and after a road accident bring the rental agreement and your licence — Thailand’s compulsory motor insurance covers some injury costs, but only for a licensed rider on a registered vehicle. Always leave with an itemised receipt and an English-language medical certificate.
The national ambulance number is 1669. It is free, it works anywhere in the province including the national park, and it takes you to the nearest appropriate hospital, which for an uninsured patient means the public one. The private hospitals run their own ambulances and will send one when you call the number on the hospital’s page. Distances inside the city are short — the centre to Surat Thani Hospital is about six minutes by car, the Ban Don river piers about the same, Phun Phin railway station about twelve, and Surat Thani airport around half an hour. Grab and Bolt both work here. Outside the city the arithmetic changes completely: the Don Sak ferry piers are about 70 km east, a little over an hour away, and Khao Sok is 120 km west.
Khao Sok is where being hurt gets awkward. The park headquarters at Khlong Sok sits in Phanom district, and the nearest hospitals are the small district ones at Phanom, about forty minutes east by road, and Ban Ta Khun beyond it; Surat Thani Hospital is 120 km and roughly two hours away. The raft houses on Cheow Lan lake are harder again, because there is no road at all: a casualty comes out by longtail to the Ratchaprapha dam pier, an hour or more from the far arms of the lake, then twenty minutes by road to Ban Ta Khun. Signal on the lake is patchy, so tell your guide or lodge about any condition before you set off, and let them call 1669 rather than improvising a lift. Coming the other way, a ferry is not an ambulance: be treated on the island first. The Don Sak piers are just over an hour from the city hospitals, the Ban Don river piers a few minutes, and boats stop in rough weather.
For a cold, an upset stomach, a rash or an insect bite you do not need a hospital at all. Thai pharmacies sell most everyday medicines over the counter, including things that would need a prescription at home, and a licensed pharmacist — look for the framed certificate on the wall — will usually speak enough English to advise. In Surat Thani the easy options are the chain pharmacies in the malls and along Talat Mai Road, and there are independents around the Ban Don market and the bus and boat terminals. Stock up before you go to Khao Sok or out on the lake, where there is very little. Check expiry dates, and see a doctor rather than a pharmacist if a fever lasts more than a couple of days: dengue is present in this province and needs a blood test.
Hospitals in Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao / Thailand visa guide / Thailand destinations / Hospitals in Thailand / Hospitals in Thailand / All hospitals
Travel information, not medical advice.