The figure widely reported as Luang Por Nen’s gift is the construction budget approved by Bangkok’s city council for a new 200-bed hospital in Don Mueang.
Reports that a senior Thai monk gave 2bn baht of his own money to build a hospital in Bangkok spread widely across news outlets and social media over the weekend. The story was striking: a single abbot funding an entire public hospital.
The monk at the centre of the reports is Phra Phrom Wachirakhunathon, abbot of Wat Si Sudaram Worawihan in Bangkok Noi, better known as Luang Por Nen. He is a prominent fundraiser for public health projects in the capital and has led efforts to build a new hospital in Don Mueang, a northern district that has never had one.
A Buddhist scholar has now said the reports got one thing wrong: the money was never the monk’s to give.
“He had no right to hold the money personally”
Professor Banjob Bannaruji, a fellow of the Royal Society of Thailand, issued a statement on 13 September after the reports circulated.
Hospitals built under the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) with the abbot’s backing, he said, are funded from three sources: wealthy business owners who respect the monk, annual allocations from the BMA, and smaller public donations.
The abbot’s role was to bring donors, city officials and the public together, Banjob said. He had no right to hold the money personally, and all of it had gone into construction.
Banjob suggested the original wording had been a well-meant shorthand, intended to show that self-sacrificing monks still exist, but one that gave a false impression of private wealth.
Where the 2bn baht figure comes from
The number matches the budget approved by the Bangkok Metropolitan Council on 12 September 2025: 1,999,960,000 baht for Navamindradhiraj University to build the hospital over five years, from the 2026 to 2030 fiscal years.
That money will pay for a 13-storey, 200-bed hospital building with parking, covering about 29,460 sq m, plus a five-storey support building of about 4,940 sq m and a six-storey staff residence of about 6,520 sq m.
Banjob’s statement confirms that private donors have contributed to hospital projects the monk has championed. Public records do not, however, show how much of the Don Mueang budget came from private money as opposed to city funds.
The Somdet Phra Maha Ratchamangalacharn Hospital is being built on 18 rai of ecclesiastical land belonging to Wat Pak Nam Phasi Charoen, on Na Wong Pracha Phatthana Road in Si Kan subdistrict. The plot is part of a larger 38-rai holding.
Wat Pak Nam agreed to lease the site for 30 years from the 2026 fiscal year, or for as long as it remains a hospital. Rent was set at 1% of the land’s assessed value, with the approval of the Supreme Sangha Council.
The foundation stone was laid on 9 December 2025. A 900 sq m temporary outpatient and emergency building opened on 2 March this year, run under Taksin Hospital. The BMA credited Luang Por Nen with arranging its construction, with Dr Sonthaya Klomplian named as a supporting donor.
The clinic offers general treatment, basic emergency care, wound care and health screening on weekdays, and accepts patients under Thailand’s main public health schemes as well as self-paying patients.
When complete, the hospital is intended to provide internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, specialist clinics, dentistry, operating theatres, intensive care and inpatient wards.
City Hall says northern Bangkok has too few BMA hospitals. The catchment area, covering Don Mueang, Lak Si, Sai Mai, Chatuchak, Bang Sue, Lat Phrao and Bang Khen, has more than one million residents.
Local residents campaigned for a hospital for more than 15 years, and more than 16,000 people are reported to have signed in support. The new facility is expected to ease pressure on Bhumibol Adulyadej and Nopparat Rajathanee hospitals.
The hospital is named after Somdet Phra Maha Ratchamangalacharn, known as Somdet Chuang, the late former acting Supreme Patriarch and abbot of Wat Pak Nam.
Luang Por Nen has backed other public health projects in Bangkok, including facilities linked to Ratchaphiphat, Rattanapracharak and Phra Mongkhon Thep Muni hospitals, and the Bussarakham Chittakanun Hospital project in Sai Mai.
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The story 2 billion baht Don Mueang hospital funding clarified after monk donation claim as seen on Thaiger News.
