Rajavithi Hospital () is large public hospital located in

Ratchathewi District Ratchathewi ( th, ราชเทวี, ) is a district in central Bangkok, Thailand. Clockwise from the north, its neighboring districts are Phaya Thai, Din Daeng, Huai Khwang, Watthana, Pathum Wan and Dusit. History The district was part o ...

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. It was founded in 1951 as the Women's Hospital, and is operated by the Ministry of Public Health's Department of Medical Services. With an inpatient capacity of 1,200 beds, it is one of the largest hospitals in Thailand. It serves as a teaching hospital for the

College of Medicine, Rangsit University The College of Medicine, Rangsit University () is the first private medical school and the ninth oldest medical school in Thailand. History The Faculty of Medicine, Rangsit College was founded on 1 May 1989, following a successful proposal to the ...

History

Rajavithi Hospital was founded as the Women's Hospital under the premiership of

Plaek Phibunsongkhram Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram ( th, แปลก พิบูลสงคราม ; alternatively transcribed as ''Pibulsongkram'' or ''Pibulsonggram''; 14 July 1897 – 11 June 1964), locally known as Marshal P. ( th, จอมพล � ...

, as part of his policy to establish large medical centres in Bangkok. Construction began in 1947, undertaken by the Department of Civil Engineering. The original buildings, designed in modified International Style, included an administration and outpatient building, a surgery and labour building, two patient wards, and staff residences. The hospital was officially opened on 16 April 1951, becoming the country's first specialized hospital for women's health. One of the hospital's pioneers was Dr Sem Pringpuangkeo, who was director from 1951 to 1963 and oversaw the successful separation of

conjoined twins Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are twins joined ''in utero''. A very rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence ...

Wandee and Sriwan, the country's first such case, in 1956. He also founded the next-door

Children's Hospital A children's hospital is a hospital that offers its services exclusively to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In certain special cases, they may also treat adults. The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th ...

, in 1954. The hospital gradually diversified its patient services, adding surgery, internal medicine, and otolaryngology departments. But obstetrics for a long time remained the hospital's core service, seeing as many as 30,000 births yearly during 1960–1964. In 1976, the hospital changed its policies to provide general healthcare as well and was renamed Rajavithi Hospital, a name conferred upon by King

Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej ( th, ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช; ; ; (Sanskrit: ''bhūmi·bala atulya·teja'' - "might of the land, unparalleled brilliance"); 5 December 192713 October 2016), conferred with the title King Bhumibol the Great ...

. In 1988, the hospital opened its heart centre and was the first in Asia to successfully operate a

heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common proce ...

using the 'Domino' procedure. Rajavithi Hospital started providing medical education for students of the College of Medicine, Rangsit University since 1 June 1992. Students in this group also study at the

Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health () is large public hospital located in Ratchathewi District, Bangkok, Thailand. It serves as a teaching hospital for the College of Medicine, Rangsit University. History With plans to expand the p ...

as a teaching hospital.

Services

Rajavithi Hospital serves as the Department of Medical Services' largest tertiary referral centre, and is a major organ transplant facility. It also operates a large trauma unit, and its Narenthorn EMS Center, established in 1995, was the country's first

emergency medical service Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...

provider. The hospital has about 250 medical doctors on staff, has 1,200 inpatient beds, and treats up to 1 million outpatients annually.

References

* This article incorporates material from the corresponding article in the Thai Wikipedia

External links

* {{Coord, 13, 45, 50, N, 100, 32, 10, E, type:landmark, display=title Teaching hospitals in Thailand Hospitals in Bangkok

History

Services

See also

References

External links