| King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital | |
| The Thai Red Cross Society | |
|---|---|
| Administration Building, with Sor Kor Building in the background | |
| Geography | |
| Location | 1873 Rama IV Road, Pathum Wan, Bangkok, Thailand |
| Organisation | |
| Care system | Referral hospital for the universal coverage scheme |
| Hospital type | Teaching |
| Affiliated university | Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University |
| Services | |
| Standards | Hospital Accreditation (Institute of Hospital Quality Improvement & Accreditation, Thailand) |
| Emergency department | Yes |
| Beds | 1,479 |
| History | |
| Founded | 1914 |
| Links | |
| Website | http://www.chulalongkornhospital.go.th/ |
| Lists | Hospitals in Thailand |
| Other links | List of hospitals in Bangkok |
King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (sometimes abbreviated KCMH, Thai: โรงพยาบาลจุฬาลงกรณ์) is a general and tertiary referral hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. It is operated by the Thai Red Cross Society, and serves as the teaching hospital for the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and the Thai Red Cross College of Nursing. With an in-patient capacity of 1,479 beds, it is one of the largest hospitals in Thailand.
The founding of the hospital was first proposed by King Vajiravudh, who, having observed the operations of the Red Cross Hospital of Japan during his travels, thought it beneficial to establish a hospital in the service of the Red Cross (then the Red Unalom Society). The hospital, named in honour of King Chulalongkorn, was founded through donations by King Vajiravudh and his brothers and sisters, together with the society's funds. The hospital was opened by King Vajiravudh on 30 May 1914.
Today, the hospital provides general and specialized medical services through its dentistry, forensic medicine, internal medicine, orthopedics, pediatrics, preventive medicine, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, radiology and surgery clinics. It also operates five specialized medical service centers, namely: Cardiac Center, Glaucoma Imaging & Diagnostic Center, Excimer Laser Center, Chulalongkorn Craniofacial Center, and the Queen Sirikit Center for Breast Cancer.
On April 30, 2010, more than 200 anti-government Red-Shirt protesters forced their way into Chulalongkorn Hospital, which is near to the main protest site, searching for soldiers whom the protesters alleged were hiding there but finding no soldiers. Patients, family members, and hospital staff were threatened. Following the Red Shirt storming, hospital staff moved approximately 600 patients to other buildings and another hospitals further away from the protest site. UDD leader Weng Tojirakarn, himself a medical doctor, apologized for the storming, calling it "inappropriate" and "unreasonable".[1] Reuters describes the situation as "a clumsy storming of a hospital that raised questions over whether the movement is losing direction in a two-month crisis that has killed 27 people".[2]