Background 

For every trip Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn makes to remote areas, many thousands of local people come to greet her. During these visits, Her Royal Highness discovered that many local people suffer from illness, and her immediate response was to allow her personal physician to take care of them free-of-charge. However, there were so many patients that one doctor could not handle them all properly. Her Royal Highness also realized that they came from very poor families living in remote areas where basic health care services are lacking and people do not have the knowledge to take care of themselves properly. Some of them had never even seen a doctor before in their lives.

Consequently, in 1992 Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn decided to establish Princess Sirindhorn’s Medical Unit. This Unit has the specific purpose of providing local people with free basic health care services and treatment. For those who require surgery or special treatment in provincial hospitals, or even in a Bangkok hospital, Her Royal Highness gives permission for them to become a patient under her sponsorship. This means that Her Royal Highness will pay for all necessary expenses including transportation and hospital fees.

Princess Sirindhorn’s Medical Unit consists of a medical team from the Border Patrol Police hospital as well as from hospitals in local areas where she visits. The Princess supports the medicine and medical materials. From November 1992 to September 2013, the Medical Unit provided on the spot services on 1,007 occasions, providing direct curative care to 242,146 cases, while 6,071 cases were allowed to become patients under the Princess’s sponsorship.

Princess Sirindhorn’s Dental Unit

In the remote villages, the problems of oral health are quite similar to those of general health, where a lack of dentists and dental services is very common. Consequently, the principles of Princess Sirindhorn’s Medical Unit are also applied for dental services.

Princess Sirindhorn’s Dental Unit was established in 1997 to help local people in remote areas receive treatment for their oral problems. The Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University in Bangkok, provides a dental team and an equipped vehicle for serving the local people during Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s visits. Princess Sirindhorn’s Dental Unit not only provides treatment services, but also education on the prevention of oral problems. Up to March 2013, the Dental Unit has provided services on 211 occasions and 145,474 local people have benefited from the project.

Princess Sirindhorn’s Support Fund for Poor Patients

Despite its dedicated work, there were still many local people who could not come to receive services from Princess Sirindhorn’s Medical Unit. To help these people, who usually need hospital treatment, Her Royal Highness established the Support Fund for Poor Patients in 1993 by donating her own funds to collaborating hospitals so that they could provide services to needy people. This Fund has been established in 458 hospitals in provincial areas throughout the country. It is used to pay for hospital fees, food and transportation for poor patients, as well as for purchasing modern equipment to be used in the hospital. At the end of September 2013, the total amount of the Fund was 77,315,956.78 baht. Her Royal Highness also allows the public to contribute to the Fund, which has thus become a charitable project.