Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University

Faculty of Medicine
Siriraj Hospital,
Mahidol University

Type	Public
Established	1889
Dean	Udom Kachintorn, M.D.
Administrative staff	9,315
Students	1,662
Location	Bangkok, Thailand
Campus	Urban
Colors	Green
Website	Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University

Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University (Thai: คณะแพทยศาสตร์ศิริราชพยาบาล) is the oldest and largest medical school and oldest of any kind of university faculty in Thailand. The faculty is now part of Mahidol University. Founded in 1889, the faculty was run in co-operation with Siriraj Hospital, the first public hospital in Thailand, which provided the students the clinical experiences. The faculty's campus and hospital is in the Bangkok Noi district, Bangkok, on the former Rear Palace[วังหลัง]. The medical school accepted about 250 students for the undergraduate education and more than 100 to postgraduate studies each year.

The logo of the Siriraj Hospital and Medical School is the Naga curled into a shape of "ศ" (pronounce as "Sor-Sala"), the first Thai alphabet of the hospital name with the Royal Diadem on top of the Naga.

Siriraj Hospital, the first public hospital in Siam, was founded in 1888 under commissions and subsidy of King Chulalongkorn, named after the deceased Prince Siriraj Kakuthpan. However, the modern medical practitioners were still lacking as they refused to come under government's employments. The medical school was established in May 1889 known as Paethayakorn School (Thai: โรงเรียนแพทยากร i.e. School of Medical Practitioners). Any students who finished their Mattayom education were admitted for free for a three-year course. The school was originally taught solely by George McFarland. On May 1, 1893, King Chulalongkorn changed the name of the school to Rajapaethayalai (Thai: ราชแพทยาลัย i.e. Royal Medical College) with McFarland as the first director of the school. The school facilities and the dormitories were constructed.

In 1903, the course was expanded to four years. In 1913, Prince of Chainat, the Deputy Minister of Thammakarn Ministry, added the natural sciences into the curriculum in addition to the medical sciences and the course was expanded to five years. The Traditional Thai Medicine major was abolished in 1915 and instead the Pharmacy major was established. On April 6, 1917, the Rajapaethayalai was annexed to newly founded Chulalongkorn University (founded by Vajiravudh's earlier decree in 1917). The medical school became the Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University (Thai: คณะแพทยศาสตร์แห่งจุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย) and was later renamed to Faculty of Medicine and Siriraj Hospital (Thai: คณะแพทยศาสตร์และศิริราชพยาบาล). At Chulalongkorn University, in 1918, the medical course was expanded to six years - with first four pre-clinical years at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Chulalongkorn and later two clinical years at the Siriraj Faculty.