Public hospital, Cho Lon Ward (formerly District 5).
Cho Ray Hospital
Vietnam’s largest hospital and the referral centre for the entire south — about 1,800 beds in Cho Lon, permanently over capacity, and where the hardest cases end up.
Ambulance and medical emergency: 115. Police: 113. Fire and rescue: 114.
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Bệnh viện Chợ Rẫy
Say “benh vien Cho Ray”. On Nguyen Chi Thanh in Cho Lon, across from Thuan Kieu Plaza and about five kilometres west of Ben Thanh Market; it is the best-known hospital name in the country and every driver knows it.
- TypePublic — Ministry of Health central hospital; the main referral hospital for southern Vietnam
- BedsAbout 1,800
- Address201B Nguyen Chi Thanh, Cho Lon Ward (formerly Ward 12, District 5), Ho Chi Minh City
- Switchboard+84 28 3855 4137
- Switchboard, second line+84 28 3855 4138
- Appointments, office hours+84 28 3955 5880
- LanguagesVietnamese. There is a general internal medicine and international department, but the hospital publishes no English-language or interpreter service
- Opened1900
- On the mapOpen in Google Maps
The biggest hospital in the country and the end of the line for serious cases from every province south of the capital: founded in 1900, ranked in the special class and run directly by the Ministry of Health. It gives its own size as about 1,800 beds and its average inpatient load as roughly 2,500 a day, which tells you most of what you need to know. Its specialists are among the best in Vietnam; it is also crowded, exhausting and conducted entirely in Vietnamese.
What it is known for
Scale and difficulty. Cho Ray is Vietnam’s largest hospital, founded in 1900 in Cho Lon and run directly by the Ministry of Health rather than by the city, and it is the referral hospital for the whole of southern Vietnam — the place a provincial hospital sends the head injury, the multiple trauma, the poisoning or the organ failure it cannot manage. Its neurosurgery, trauma, toxicology and transplant teams are among the most experienced in the country, precisely because everything difficult arrives here. The corollary is in its own figures: about 1,800 beds carrying an average of some 2,500 inpatients a day, so corridors are full and relatives sleep beside beds.
Who it suits
Anyone seriously hurt or seriously ill who does not have insurance, and anyone whose problem is genuinely hard: this is where the expertise is, whatever the waiting room looks like. It is not the place for a minor complaint, and it is difficult without help — forms and consultations are in Vietnamese, queues are long, and families are expected to do a great deal of the fetching and watching that nurses would do elsewhere. The hospital does run a general internal medicine and international department, on the tenth floor, but it advertises no interpreter service, so take a Vietnamese speaker with you if there is any way to arrange it.
Cost and insurance
Public prices. Foreigners pay more than Vietnamese patients and still very little by the standards of the international hospitals — the difference between the two tiers is a factor of ten or twenty, not a percentage. Payment is in cash at each step, before the step rather than after it in many departments, so carry money and your passport. Insurers do not normally bill a Vietnamese public hospital directly, so assume pay-and-claim, keep every receipt, and ask for a medical report in English before you leave.
Getting there
On Nguyen Chi Thanh in Cho Lon, about five kilometres west of Ben Thanh Market — fifteen to twenty-five minutes by taxi depending on traffic. Thuan Kieu Plaza is the landmark, more or less across the road. The University Medical Center is two hundred metres away on the next street and the two are easy to confuse, so give the street and number rather than a name alone. In an emergency call 115 for a public ambulance rather than making your own way; the crew take you to the nearest appropriate hospital, which for an uninsured patient is often this one. Note that the hospital’s website could not be reached from outside Vietnam when this page was checked.
Details checked against the hospital’s own website, September 2026. Call before a non-urgent visit; in an emergency call 115 or the hospital’s own emergency line above. Travel information, not medical advice.
The other 6 hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City
- University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh CityPublic, about 1,000 beds, Hong Bang, Cho Lon, two streets from Cho Ray.
- Hospital for Tropical DiseasesPublic, about 550 beds, Vo Van Kiet, on the Tau Hu canal.
- City International HospitalPrivate, about 320 beds, Hi-Tech Healthcare Park, Binh Tan, west of the centre.
- Hoan My Saigon HospitalPrivate, about 300 beds, Phan Xich Long, Phu Nhuan, between the centre and the airport.
- Vinmec Central Park International HospitalPrivate, about 178 beds, Vinhomes Central Park, on the Saigon River.
- FV HospitalPrivate, Phu My Hung, District 7, south of the centre.
Hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City / Ho Chi Minh City travel guide / Ho Chi Minh City tourist map / All hospitals