When your child needs medical care, nothing else matters. And when it comes to that care, parents want only the best. That’s why the opening of Samitivej International Children’s Hospital’s new building on March 5, 2025, is big news for parents in Thailand and across Southeast Asia.
Located on the Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital campus, the building spans eight floors and houses 111 beds. It is now the only private, dedicated children’s hospital of its kind in Thailand and one of the most specialised in the Southeast Asian region.
A hospital designed for just children
Samitivej was the first private hospital in Thailand to open a dedicated children’s hospital back in 2003. The original project was housed within the main hospital building and has since grown into a referral centre trusted by families across Asia. More than twenty years later, the need for a purpose-built space became clear.
“We’re still the only private hospital in Thailand to offer a fully dedicated children’s hospital. We have the largest paediatric team in the private sector, covering everything from primary to tertiary care,” explains Nicolas Leloup, Director of International Marketing at Samitivej.
Unlike general hospitals with paediatric wards, every area of the Samitivej International Children’s Hospital is set up to care for children, from newborns to teenagers.
There are child-sized instruments, age-appropriate sedation methods, and protocols tailored to their unique physiology. The team understands that children’s bodies respond differently to treatment, with faster heart rates and lower thresholds, so the operating theatres and recovery units have been built to reflect those needs.
You will also find things you might not expect to see in a hospital, like music therapy and special lighting in the ER. The rooms are styled to feel more like a nursery or bedroom than a hospital ward. In the ICU, the monitoring technology is discreetly built into the design.
“We try to make the room feel like a baby’s bedroom, while still maintaining safety for the patient. We have monitors, like those used in the ICU, to make sure the patients are safe. We also play music recommended by a music therapist [in the ER], such as children’s songs, white noise, or slow-paced tunes that help soothe them. Our priority is to make sure patients feel comfortable with us,” Dr Angsana Kityadhiguna, an Emergency Medicine specialist at Samitivej International Children’s Hospital, told The Thaiger.
Built for safety from the entrance
One of the building’s most practical but parent-reassuring features is its layout. When you first arrive, every child goes through primary screening. If a child has a fever or symptoms of an infectious disease, they’re directed to a separate isolation room with its own dedicated pathway to consultation rooms and admission areas.
The entire hospital has two completely separate air-conditing flows for infectious and non-infectious zones, so there’s no chance of cross contamination. This detail means peace of mind. A hospital full of children will inevitably have contagious illnesses, but Samitivej has engineered the environment so other patients, as well as families visiting for check-ups or specialist care don’t come into contact with infectious patients.
Specialised intensive care with family-focused support
The PICU and NICU at Samitivej International Children’s Hospital are staffed by teams trained in critical care for infants and children. According to Leloup, Samitivej collaborates with Doernbecher Children’s Hospital – Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in the United States and Takatsuki General Hospital in Japan to continuously raise its intensive care standards:
“Doctors receive training from the American and the Japanese teams to develop the programmes and adjust the guidelines. This helps us to develop skills tailored to international patients.”
Each intensive care room is private, and patients are monitored around the clock. There’s always a nurse just outside the door, ready to respond at any time.
Moreover, rather than restricting visitor access in critical care areas, Samitivej encourages parental presence whenever possible. Their Progressive Paediatric Care Unit (PPCU) allows parents to stay with their child while receiving guidance from a team of paediatricians, therapists, and rehab specialists.
The hospital also uses SmartIPD, a digital system that streamlines communication between departments in real-time, which boosts safety and care coordination.
“Here, [the team] delivers state-of-the-art care for the most vulnerable patients. Because every child deserves the very best,” says Leloup.
Smart technology, safer outcomes
Samitivej International Children’s Hospital offers a wide range of surgical procedures, supported by an advanced Hybrid Operating Room, which combines a traditional operating space with real-time imaging technology. This allows surgeons to perform minimally invasive and complex procedures without moving a child between rooms.
Most operations are now done using minimally invasive techniques that require smaller incisions, less pain, and quicker recovery times, allowing your child to get back to being a kid, faster. Leloup shared:
“We use laparoscopes through incisions as small as 2 millimetres. Everything is then on 3D monitors, and the doctors can magnify as much as they want and really focus on the operation that they’re currently performing. Right after that, we can take them into the pediatric or neonatal intensive care unit for recovery.”
The hospital also treats children with epilepsy, neurological conditions, and developmental delays. One option is vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), where a small device is implanted under the skin to help reduce seizures. It’s all part of their commitment to helping children heal gently, safely, and with care that feels personal.
There are technologies to help little patients who need physical therapy, too. In the rehabilitation centre, you can find robotic-assisted gait training, Redcord NEURAC, and sensory integration tools, among others. These technologies are used to speed up recovery in a fun and engaging way.
Ready for urgent care
Any parent knows that emergencies happen when you least expect them. Emergency care at Samitivej International Children’s Hospital has been designed with speed and precision in mind. The hospital’s central dispatch centre monitors all ambulance activity in real time. It tracks the location of vehicles, the traffic on the roads, and the vital signs of patients on board.
This is possible because each ambulance is fitted with advanced equipment linked directly to the hospital’s monitors. Doctors waiting at the hospital can see a child’s condition before they even arrive.
They know the heart rate, oxygen levels, and other critical details so they can prepare the right response in advance. The average dispatch time is just two minutes, which means help is on the way almost as soon as a call comes in. Moreover, every ambulance is staffed with doctors and nurses, not just paramedics, and comes fully equipped for paediatric emergencies.
Caring for children across the region
Although Samitivej International Children’s Hospital is based in Bangkok, it serves families from across the Asia Pacific, especially those who don’t have access to advanced paediatric care in their home countries.
“When it comes to paediatric care, we are reference points in the Asia Pacific region. We got patients referred to us from as far as Bangladesh to Indonesia,” notes Leloup.
Being just 20 minutes from Suvarnabhumi Airport makes Samitivej an easy choice for families travelling in from abroad. And to make the whole process easier, the hospital has its own medical escort teams who fly to bring patients safely to Bangkok for treatment.
The Emergency Room plays a key role in this process, acting as the first point of contact. It’s fully equipped to manage the complex logistics of patient arrivals to provide seamless coordination between air transport, ground teams, and medical staff.
Additionally, to support international families through every stage of care, Samitivej offers pre-arrival teleconsultations, multilingual care teams, and coordinated follow-up appointments.
“Our vision is to serve the local community and beyond. We want to demonstrate medical excellence in the Asia Pacific region and offer care to children who don’t always have access to it,” adds Leloup.
For parents, that’s exactly what matters. A hospital where children come first, and everything, from the tech to the teddy bears, is built with love, skill, and purpose.
For more information, visit https://www.samitivejhospitals.com/children-hospital.
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