Healthcare in Thailand for Retirees

Reviewed by Greg Berryman, 7 September 2026

Routine care in Thailand is cheap and you can usually get it the same day. A serious admission to a private hospital costs a great deal more, and you pay it yourself unless you are insured.

This page covers what a doctor, dentist, pharmacist and optometrist cost, how you get seen, and what to do in an emergency. Written from Phuket, with the dental costs from Krabi.

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Doctor costs Pharmacies Dentists Glasses English Emergencies Traditional medicine

How much does it cost to see a doctor in Thailand?

You pay at the counter. There is no rebate and no reciprocal arrangement with any of the five countries this site covers, so the figure below is the whole cost.

Where you go Consultation
Private clinic, GP 800 to 1,500 baht
Private hospital, GP 1,500 to 3,000 baht
Private hospital, specialist 2,000 to 5,000 baht

Those figures come from a Phuket clinic's published pricing guide dated January 2026. Tests, scans and medication are billed on top of the consultation.

Can you see a doctor or a specialist without an appointment?

Yes, and that includes specialists. I have walked into Bangkok Hospital Phuket off the street and been given an appointment at the desk. The wait is usually around an hour and often less.

Private hospitals here run no gatekeeper system. You tell the desk which department you want, cardiology, orthopaedics, dermatology, and they book you into it. No GP has to refer you first.

In the 2023 Commonwealth Fund survey of ten countries, 37% of people in the UK and 31% in Canada who needed a specialist were seen within a month. Those were the two lowest figures in the survey.

Can you get minor surgery done the same day in Thailand?

I walked into Bangkok Hospital Phuket to have a small lump on my back looked at. I saw a specialist within the hour. He said it had to come out and go off for testing, that a local anaesthetic would cover it, and that the procedure would take 30 to 40 minutes.

He asked when I wanted to book it in. I hesitated over a date, and he offered to do it there and then. So we did.

Two to three hours later I was in a Grab on the way back to my place in the north of Phuket. I went back once a week for three weeks to have the wound cleaned and re-dressed, until the specialist was satisfied with his work.

A local clinic could have done those dressing changes. I went back to the hospital each time so the surgeon who did the work could look at it.

I paid at the cashier on the way out, on a credit card, and the medication I needed was handed to me at the same counter. From the reception desk through to the cashier, the whole thing was run well.

I no longer have the bill, so I cannot give you the figure. It cost far less than the same procedure would have in Australia, and Bangkok Hospital Phuket sits at the expensive end of the market here.

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Do you need a prescription in Thailand?

For a lot of ongoing medication, no. Statins and blood pressure tablets are handed over at the pharmacy counter here without one.

Thailand's Drug Act B.E. 2510 (1967) sorts medicines into four groups:

  • Household remedies. Sold anywhere, no licence required.
  • Ready-packed drugs. Sold in drugstores off the shelf.
  • Dangerous drugs. No prescription needed, but a licensed pharmacist has to dispense them and advise you. Much ongoing medication sits in this group.
  • Specially controlled drugs. Prescription only. Some are dispensed in hospitals only.

Antibiotics formally require a doctor.

Two practical points:

  • Bring the generic name of anything you take, not just the brand. Brand names differ here and the generic is what a Thai pharmacist will recognise.
  • Generics are widely available and cost considerably less than the branded equivalent. Ask for one.

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What does a dentist cost in Thailand?

I had a root canal done at Dental Room Krabi two months ago. I had used them before and the work was first class. The reason I cannot tell you what I paid is that it was never a big enough number to write down.

I went to Krabi because I asked my Phuket dentist for a quote on the same procedure and it came in more than 10,000 baht higher. Krabi was cheaper by enough to cover the trip, so I made a few days of it.

That is two quotes, not a rule about two cities. The transferable part is that quotes vary widely for identical work, and a second one is worth the phone call.

Bangkok Hospital Phuket publishes its dental prices, which gives you a benchmark at the expensive end of the market:

Treatment Price
Check up 500 to 2,000 baht
Clean and polish 1,500 to 2,000 baht
Extraction 1,500 to 2,000 baht per tooth
Root canal, front tooth 9,000 to 10,000 baht
Root canal, molar 14,000 to 16,000 baht
Crown, zirconia or E-max 18,000 baht
Implant 55,000 baht (Korean) to 80,000 baht (European)

That list is the hospital's own, dated 2025, with prices stated as valid to 31 December 2025. It is the most recent one they have published. Assume the current numbers are higher and get a written quote before any work starts.

Can you walk into a dentist without an appointment?

For minor work, yes. I walked in with a gum and tooth infection and was seen. I have also walked in for a clean many times.

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Where do you get glasses in Thailand?

I wear reading glasses and have used optometrists in Phuket and on Koh Samui over the years. The one I have settled on is Mr Gift at SangThong Eyes Studio on Si Sunthon Road, Choeng Thale, in the north of Phuket.

You walk in off the street and are seen. He does the eye test himself, and my last pair cost less than the equivalent in Australia.

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Is English spoken in Thai hospitals?

By the doctor or the dentist, in my experience always. I have never had trouble being understood by the person treating me.

The reception desk is where it can break down. Booking, billing, insurance paperwork and directions to the right building are handled by staff whose English varies.

What helps:

  • Use the international patient desk at a private hospital. That is what it is there for.
  • Write down names, dates and figures rather than saying them.
  • Keep any insurance card and policy number on your phone.

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What happens in a medical emergency in Thailand?

Decide which hospital you want to be taken to, and save its number in your phone before you need it.

1669 is the national emergency number. It is free, it is the public system, and it takes you to the nearest facility. Nearest is not always where you want to end up.

The alternatives:

  • 1724 reaches the BDMS network, which Bangkok Hospital belongs to. Physician-staffed ambulances, English spoken, and it costs money.
  • Call your chosen hospital directly. Bangkok Hospital Phuket is +66 76 254 425. Most private hospitals run their own ambulances.
  • 1155 is the Tourist Police, English speaking, useful if you cannot make yourself understood. They cannot dispatch an ambulance themselves.

You need a Thai SIM for any of this to work reliably.

Public or private?

I have been to my local public hospital a couple of times. Long waits, and it is not where I would want to be taken if something serious happened.

That is one person's experience of one hospital, and public hospitals across Thailand vary. The private hospitals are where the international standard sits. Without insurance you pay those prices yourself.

Policies, insurers, age limits and the 2025 co-payment rule are in health insurance in Thailand for retirees over 50. What happens to your Medicare, NHS or provincial entitlement once you leave is on the home country health system page.

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Traditional Chinese medicine and Thai traditional medicine

Both are licensed professions here, regulated by the Ministry of Public Health.

  • The Practice of the Art of Healing Act B.E. 2542 (1999) created profession commissions for Thai traditional medicine, applied Thai traditional medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Practitioners in each must hold a licence.
  • Traditional Chinese medicine was confirmed as a recognised branch by the 2013 amendment to that Act.
  • Therapeutic Thai massage was brought under the same framework by a Ministry of Public Health notification on 1 February 2001.
  • The Department for Development of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine was established on 3 October 2002.
  • Acupuncture is covered under the national health security scheme.

You will find traditional Chinese medicine in private clinics and in departments inside larger private hospitals. Acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping and Chinese herbal medicine are all available. Eighteen herbs sit on Thailand's National List of Essential Medicines.

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Related

Everything else that changes day to day, from water to transport, is on living in Thailand, practical questions answered. To work out whether the numbers and the city fit your situation, take the free assessment. Something here not covered? Ask me.

No commercial relationships

The businesses named on this page are ones I use and pay for myself. There is no affiliate arrangement, referral fee or sponsorship behind any mention on this site. Affairs In Order Thailand, linked further down, is my own site. It sells two paid packs.

If you cannot make your own medical decisions

An ordinary Thai power of attorney ends the moment the person who gave it loses capacity. Thailand has no established durable equivalent.

What replaces it is a court appointment. Someone applies to a Thai court to be appointed guardian or curator.

The detail is on my other site, Affairs In Order Thailand. The pages there are free.

Sources

Most of what's on this page comes from living it, not from research. Where a specific claim needed backing beyond personal experience, here's where it came from: