Bangkok's hospitals run from private campuses with international desks to busy university teaching hospitals. Compare emergency cover, languages and billing. Check services, staff, fees and availability with each provider before you book.
Private hospitals here let you book a specialist directly; the university hospitals are busier and mostly Thai-language, though Siriraj's private SiPH wing takes booked appointments.
Not every private hospital publishes its languages or an international desk; MedPark and Phyathai 2 ask you to enquire, so check before a planned admission.
Many hospitals run their own ambulances with direct numbers; save the one nearest where you stay alongside 1669.
Accreditation dates differ from hospital to hospital, so confirm that a JCI or HA certificate is current for the site you plan to use.
Our method for this page
We read each provider's own web pages on hospitals in Bangkok and kept only statements we could trace to a source. Nobody paid to be included, and the list is not a quality ranking. Criteria:
Bumrungrad is a 580-bed private hospital on Sukhumvit Soi 3 organised around a large overseas caseload. It reports more than 1.1 million patients a year from over 190 countries, and more than 1,500 doctors across over 115 subspecialties.
The Emergency Center, on the ground floor of Building B (South Wing), runs 24 hours with emergency physicians and a surgical team on site. The hospital also lists a licensed heliport, round-the-clock emergency cardiac catheterisation, a neonatal intensive care transport team and an aviation medical evacuation team. Centres it highlights include robotic surgery, genomic medicine and the VitalLife wellness centre.
The Medical Coordination Office, on the 10th floor of the BIC Building, gives treatment price estimates, deals with insurers and embassies, and arranges evacuation, repatriation and fit-to-fly paperwork. It may suit visitors who want a large campus used to coordinating care from abroad, and who value its stated policy of charging local and international patients the same prices.
24-hour Emergency Center
Licensed heliport
Medical Coordination Office
Same prices for local and international patients
Emergency Center: Building B, ground floor, South WingEmergency Center 24 hours
Worth confirming: The hospital publishes more than one ambulance number (1378 within Thailand, and +66 2 066 8889); save the one on its current contact page before you travel.
JCI clinical care programme certifications (stroke, acute coronary syndrome, lung cancer, orthogeriatric; listed to 2027)
The headquarters campus on New Petchburi Road groups several specialist hospitals on one site, including Bangkok Heart Hospital, Wattanosoth Cancer Hospital and Bangkok International Hospital, so cardiac, cancer and general care sit close together.
Emergencies go to the Trauma Center, open 24 hours, and the Emergency Service Center on the 1st floor lists trauma and burn surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, neurologists, cardiologists, paediatricians and obstetrician-gynaecologists. A 'Comfy Zone' for non-urgent cases runs from 20:00 to midnight and accepts all insurance policies. JCI programme certifications cover stroke, acute coronary syndrome, lung cancer and orthogeriatric care.
Expat Health Connect, on the 2nd floor of Bangkok International Hospital, is a single contact point for foreign residents, with appointment booking, document support, and insurance pre-authorisation and billing help. It may suit expatriates living in Bangkok who want a case manager and several specialist hospitals on one campus.
24-hour Trauma Center
Evening zone for non-urgent cases
JCI stroke and acute coronary syndrome certifications
Samitivej Sukhumvit is a 275-bed BDMS hospital on Soi 49 with more than 400 care specialists. Alongside general services it houses a Japanese Medical Center offering one-stop care for Japanese nationals, and the Samitivej Children's Hospital, whose NICU takes newborns up to one month and whose PICU cares for older infants.
The Trauma Center on the 1st floor of Building 3 is open 24 hours, with general surgeons on cover around the clock, access to orthopaedic, neurosurgical and cardiothoracic surgeons, and CT, MRI and radiologists at all hours. The hospital says its ambulances are equipped to ICU or CCU level, offers 24-hour paediatric emergency care, and arranges ground and air evacuation and repatriation.
International patients are offered interpreters and immigration assistance. It may suit families, including Japanese-speaking patients, who want adult and children's emergency care on one campus.
24-hour Trauma Center
24-hour paediatric emergency care
Japanese Medical Center
Ground and air ambulance
Trauma Center: Building 3, 1st floor
Worth confirming: The trauma page covers both the Sukhumvit and Srinakarin sites; check that the service you need is offered at Sukhumvit.
BNH is a private hospital on Convent Road in Silom that began in 1898 as a nursing home for foreign residents. Its published strengths lean towards women's health, maternity and paediatrics, alongside centres for spine, orthopaedics, neuroscience, cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic care, and asthma and allergy.
The emergency department treats adults and children 24 hours a day and says it can call on every specialty in the hospital at any time. A 24/7 ambulance with emergency physicians and nurses covers Bangkok, and the emergency page lists interpretation in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Scandinavian languages, Japanese, Cantonese and Mandarin.
The BNH Referral Centre is a single point of contact for expatriates and international patients and can arrange ground ambulance, commercial repatriation and air ambulance, while an international insurance team deals with claims. It may suit residents and visitors around Silom and Sathorn who want a hospital with a long history of treating foreigners.
MedPark is a newer private hospital on Rama IV Road that says it was built for complex, high-acuity cases. It reports that nearly 70% of its specialists hold American board certification or international accreditation.
The emergency department on the G floor is open 24 hours, with in-department CT and X-ray, a hybrid operating room with biplane angiography, a helipad, and ECMO and balloon-pump support for transfers. The critical care centre is planned for 130 ICU and CCU beds, 65 of them open so far, with one nurse per ICU patient. Aeromedical evacuation by air ambulance, helicopter or commercial flight is offered within Thailand and abroad.
The hospital does not publish an international patient desk or a list of languages. It may suit patients with serious or complex conditions, or those being transferred from other hospitals, who want intensive care capacity close at hand.
Worth confirming: No international patient service or language list is published; ask about interpreters and insurance billing before a planned admission.
Siriraj is a very large public teaching hospital run by Mahidol University, with more than 2,000 beds and close to five million outpatient visits a year. It works as a referral centre for complex care and holds disease-specific certifications for liver transplantation, stroke, joint replacement, acute leukaemia, diabetes and geriatric hip fracture care.
The public hospital takes new patients on a walk-in basis only, and its phone line is in Thai, so visitors who want an appointment usually go through Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun Hospital (SiPH), the faculty's 402-bed private wing near Thonburi railway station. SiPH's Emergency Clinic, on the 1st floor of Zone A, is open 24 hours with emergency physicians and an ambulance crew.
It may suit patients with a serious or unusual condition who want a large academic centre, and who are ready to use the private SiPH wing for faster, booked care.
24-hour emergency clinic at SiPH
JCI-accredited private wing
Advanced HA accredited
Liver transplant and stroke certifications
SiPH Emergency Clinic: Zone A, 1st floorSiPH Emergency Clinic 24 hours+66 2 419 1000
Worth confirming: Neither site lists interpreter services or languages; ask SiPH's call centre about English-speaking staff before a planned visit.
King Chulalongkorn Memorial is a large Thai Red Cross hospital in Pathumwan, opened in 1914, that trains Chulalongkorn University's medical students. The faculty puts its size at more than 1,500 beds and over 1.5 million outpatients a year.
The emergency room in the Bhumisirimangalanusorn Building is open 24 hours, including holidays, with emergency physicians and internal medicine, surgery and paediatric specialists on duty, and the department also handles transfers between hospitals. For planned care, the general clinic in the Bhor Por Ror Building works weekdays 08:00–16:00, while fee-paying after-hours and Premium Care Clinics see booked patients on weekday evenings and weekend mornings.
The hospital does not publish an international patient service or a list of languages. It may suit Bangkok residents who want an academic hospital's specialists and are comfortable with a busy public setting.
Ramathibodi is a Mahidol University teaching hospital on Rama VI Road in Ratchathewi. Its Main Building holds more than 1,000 tertiary-care beds, the Queen Sirikit Medical Center houses bone marrow transplantation, advanced imaging, operating rooms and intensive care, and the newer Somdech Phra Debaratana Medical Center adds up to 350 beds.
Registration at the Accident and Emergency Center, on the 1st floor, is open 24 hours. Office-hours clinics run weekdays 06:00–15:00. After-hours clinics run weekday evenings 15:00–20:00 and at weekends, though weekend sessions are limited to family medicine, orthopaedics, dermatology and ENT.
It may suit Bangkok residents with complex conditions who want a university hospital and can manage a mainly Thai-language setting.
JCI Clinical Care Program Certification (fertility centre)
Phyathai 2 is a 550-bed private hospital in the Phaya Thai district, opened in 1987, seeing about 50,000 outpatients a month. It highlights heart, musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal and women's health care, and its centre list also covers neurology, cancer, dialysis, eye, ENT, dental and health check-ups.
Many clinics open every day and into the evening; the children's centre runs from 06:30 to 22:00. An Emergency Medicine and Ambulance Center is listed, and the Patient Referral Coordination Center on the 1st floor of Building A has a 24-hour line for transfers.
The website is available in six languages, and international patients are directed to LINE and WeChat accounts. It may suit Bangkok residents and visitors in the north of the city who want a private hospital with long clinic hours.
Choosing a hospital in Thailand is less about finding a single right answer and more about matching a hospital to the care you are likely to need, the language you need it in and the way you will pay. The hospital that suits a planned operation may not be the one you want to reach in an emergency at night.
This guide covers the types of hospital, accreditation, emergency care, payment and what to ask before you commit. It is general information, not medical advice.
Public, private and university hospitals
Thailand's government hospitals range from district and provincial hospitals to large university teaching hospitals. The UK government's guidance describes them as cheaper for outpatient care, with longer waits, few private rooms and fewer English-speaking nurses and support staff. You usually need to register before you can book, and government hospitals may charge tourists and short-term visa holders more than Thai nationals and resident foreigners.
Private hospitals typically offer walk-in consultations, short waits and English-speaking staff, and most have an international liaison office that works with insurers. University teaching hospitals are public but often house specialist centres, which can matter for complex conditions if you can manage registration and possible language gaps.
The line between sectors is blurred: the same guidance notes that many government hospital doctors also hold contracts with private hospitals. It also warns that many smaller government facilities, particularly on islands and away from provincial capitals, are not equipped for major trauma.
Accreditation: Thai HA and JCI
Accreditation is an outside check of a hospital's quality and safety systems. It does not rate individual doctors or guarantee results, but it shows the hospital is inspected against published standards.
Thailand's national scheme, Hospital Accreditation (HA), is run by the Healthcare Accreditation Institute. Its public search shows each certified facility's certificate type, level, start date and expiry date, so you can confirm that a certificate is current rather than relying on a logo. Some hospitals also hold international accreditation from Joint Commission International (JCI), which publishes its own list of accredited organisations. Either way, check that it covers the specific branch you will use.
Emergency set-up
Thailand's national medical emergency number is 1669, a free Ministry of Public Health service that usually transfers callers to the nearest available hospital. The system is coordinated by the National Institute for Emergency Medicine. Many private hospitals also run their own ambulances, usually for a fee.
Before you need it, find the nearest 24-hour emergency department and ask what it treats on site and where it transfers other cases. Save its emergency number next to 1669, 191 (police) and 1155 (Tourist Police, who can also help with translation).
International patient services and language
Most doctors can communicate in English, but the UK guidance notes that nursing and other staff are unlikely to. Ask whether interpreters cover the wards and nights, not only the front desk, and whether consent forms are available in your language. If a government hospital cannot provide a translator, the Tourist Police on 1155 can connect you with the Tourist Assistance Centre.
Interpreter cover for outpatient visits, admissions and out-of-hours care
Help with insurer contact, visas and travel letters
A named coordinator for medical travellers planning a procedure
Insurance, deposits and guarantees of payment
Treatment is rarely free, even in an emergency, and the UK travel advice states that all hospitals require a guarantee of payment before treatment. Self-funded patients at private hospitals usually pay a cash deposit, and uninsured inpatients may receive regular, sometimes daily, invoices.
If you are insured, ask the hospital whether it can bill your insurer directly, and ask your insurer whether it will issue a guarantee of payment to that hospital. Thailand has no reciprocal healthcare agreement with the UK, so a GHIC is not accepted, and claims may be refused for undisclosed pre-existing conditions. Thailand's UCEP scheme funds the first 72 hours of care for critical emergencies, but reports do not say how it applies to foreign visitors, so it is no substitute for insurance.
Specialists and second opinions
Start with the specialty, not the hospital's name. Confirm that the department operates at that site, that the specialist is on the current roster, and check the doctor's licence and recorded specialty on the Medical Council of Thailand's public lookup.
Thailand's Declaration of Patients' Rights, issued by the Medical Council and other professional bodies and published by most hospitals, says patients may ask for a second opinion from a practitioner not involved in their care and may change where they are treated. Ask how to obtain copies of results and imaging so another specialist can review them.
Discharge, records and follow-up
Full medical reports are not always issued automatically, and records at government hospitals may be handwritten and in Thai. The UK guidance suggests requesting a medical report before discharge; you will usually receive a medical certificate, a copy of the bill and any prescriptions. If your airline needs a fit-to-fly certificate, ask the treating doctor for it.
If you are travelling home soon after treatment, ask who handles follow-up and how to reach the team if a problem arises.
Questions to ask before you book
Is your current HA or JCI accreditation valid for this site, and when does it expire?
Does the emergency department operate 24 hours, and which cases do you transfer elsewhere?
Do you run your own ambulance, how is it dispatched and what does it cost?
Is the specialist I need on the current roster, and when are they available?
Can you bill my insurer directly, and do you accept a guarantee of payment from it?
If I pay myself, what deposit is needed on admission and how often will I be billed?
Can you give me a written cost estimate, and which items are billed separately?
Are interpreters available on the wards and outside office hours?
Will I receive a medical report in English, copies of imaging and an itemised bill before discharge?
Who coordinates follow-up care if I return home after treatment?
Warning signs
Accreditation claims with no accrediting body named, or a certificate that has expired.
No clear answer on the deposit or how billing works before admission.
Pressure to agree to treatment or a package before you have seen a written estimate.
A specialist named in marketing who cannot be found on the Medical Council's lookup.
Reluctance to provide a medical report, imaging copies or an itemised bill.
Can I walk into a public university hospital in Bangkok as a foreigner?
Generally yes, but expect Thai-language registration and long queues. Siriraj's main hospital takes new patients on a walk-in basis only and its phone line is in Thai, while its private SiPH wing books appointments. Chulalongkorn and Ramathibodi both run fee-paying after-hours clinics on weekday evenings and at weekends.
Do Bangkok private hospitals bill international insurers directly?
Many have a team for it: Bumrungrad's Medical Coordination Office, Bangkok Hospital's Expat Health Connect and BNH's international insurance team, for example. Whether your own policy is billed directly depends on your insurer's arrangement with that hospital, so ask both before a planned admission and expect a deposit if no guarantee of payment is in place.
Which number do I call in a medical emergency in Bangkok?
1669 is Thailand's free national medical emergency number. Private hospitals also publish their own ambulance lines, usually charged; keep the number for the hospital nearest you, and check its contact page, as some list more than one.
Do Bangkok hospitals charge foreigners more?
It varies and is rarely published. Bumrungrad states that it charges local and international patients the same prices. Public hospitals may apply different fees to patients without Thai health cover, so ask for a written estimate before non-urgent treatment.
About the writer and reviewer
NC
Naruemon Chaiyasit
Health writer
Writes Thai Clinic Guide's guides and comparisons, collecting each fact from the provider's own pages and noting where it came from.
AP
Anucha Prasertkul
Health writer and reviewer
Reads each page against its sources before it is published and checks that nothing reads as personal advice.
This page sets out published information and is not medical advice. Speak to a doctor before you choose treatment. Our method.
Private tertiary hospital
