Cho Ray Hospital is the biggest general hospital in the entire city of Ho Chi Minh. Originally founded in 1900 during French rule, the hospital was then named Hospital Municipal de Cholon. A list of all of the various names the hospital has gone under would include Hospital Indigene de Cochinchine, Hospital Lolung Bonnoires, and Hospital 415, until the proprietors finally settled on Cho Ray in 1957, making for a total of five names in less than sixty years.
The Japanese government lent a hand in the expansion of this hospital in 1974, when it became one of the largest hospitals in Southeast Asia and as of early 2008 the hospital is comprised of 35 clinical departments, 11 sub-clinical departments, and 8 functional departments, with over two thousand employees, including 500 doctors and pharmacists, providing treatment for over half a million patients each year. The hospital is also part of an international network of health care facilities, as they keep in contact with medical professionals, hospitals and pharmacies in many other countries throughout the entire world.