Jingjok
Private hospitals, public hospitals
roong-pá-yaa-baan èek-gà-chon
Bangkok's big private hospitals (โรงพยาบาลเอกชน) look like hotels: a lobby with coffee shops, English-speaking staff, interpreters, short waits, and they are popular with medical tourists. They also charge hotel prices, so ask for an estimate before tests or surgery. Government hospitals (โรงพยาบาลรัฐ) are much cheaper and often excellent, but very busy: people queue from early morning, and you may wait hours. On your first visit to any hospital you register with your passport and get a hospital card with your HN number; bring it every time. Your blood pressure and weight are taken before you see the doctor, and medicine is collected from the hospital pharmacy after you pay.
Try this today
Find the hospital nearest your home, and save its number and the address in Thai.
The words that carry it
Learn this in “Hospital and insurance” →
Your first 90 days of Thai
Culture cards in Jingjok are tied to the words that carry them, each ending in one thing to try today.
- WEEKS 1–2 · SURVIVEGreet anyone, pay, and order food and 7-Eleven exactly how you like it.
- WEEKS 3–6 · SETTLE INGet around by taxi, Grab and skytrain, find anything, and handle your landlord.
- WEEKS 7–12 · RUN YOUR LIFEPharmacy, bank, SIM and apps, how you feel, and a weekend away, all in Thai.
The first week is free.