Following the Second National Economic and Social Development Plan (1964-1966), the Thai Government aimed to increase the number of doctors and nurses in order to meet the needs of the country. In August 1964, the Cabinet approved the plan of setting up a new medical school which would be located around the Phyathai area, Bangkok, Thailand. HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej graciously conferred the name on the new school of medicine “Ramathibodi” and laid the foundation stone for the building on December 30th, 1965. Four years later, the King came to open the new faculty of medicine on May 3rd, 1969. Apart from the Government’s fund, the Faculty was financially and academically supported by the Rockefeller Foundation from the United States of America. Since then the Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital has been fully equipped and has provided medical education and research facilities to the public. Moreover, it serves patients in Bankgok and from all over Thailand.
The Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital has two principal buildings to serve 5,000 out-patients per day; first building, Main Building, mainly provides more than 1,000 beds for the tertiary care of complicated and severely ill patients in various specializing departments and units. The second building, the Sirikit Medical Center, serves as a center for modern research projects, namely, bone marrow transplantation project, the project of Advanced Diagnostic Imaging Center (AIMC). It also houses modern operating rooms and intensive care units.
A new and state-of-the-art medical center named “Somdech Phra Debaratana Building” serves as the most excellent service complex for thousands of out-patients. The building will have well-equipped facilities to perform high standards of healthcare in the Southeast Asian region. It will provide 350 beds, 16 operating rooms and 14 Intensive Care Units, and also comprehensive service centers such as Stem Cell Transplantation, Minimal Invasive Endoscopic Surgery Center, Elderly Care Unit, Child Development Center and Complicated Diseases Service by specialized doctors.
