Pharmacy franchising among concerns
By Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
The reinstated Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) board will review policies of the board appointed by the public health minister, which it has replaced. The Administrative Court is considering a petition filed by Vichai Chokewiwat against an order removing him and several other individuals from the GPO board.
The removal was recommended by Public Health Minister Chaiya Sasomsab who nominated replacements for them headed by Thirachai Wuthitham, a former manager of the national football team.
Cabinet last month appointed Mr Thirachai as GPO board chairman along with the new board and stripped Dr Vichai of the chairmanship based on Mr Chaiya's recommendation.
As the court agreed to consider the case, it also issued an injunction which effectively allows the reinstatement of the Vichai board for the duration of the trial.
The Thirachai board, in the meantime, has to step aside.
Dr Vichai said his first priority is to review the policies advocated by the Thirachai board which may be detrimental to the ministry.
One of the policies expected to be under scrutiny is pharmacy franchising. In Dr Vichai's view, it likely to mar trade competitiveness, putting local pharmacies nationwide at a disadvantage commercially.
''We have to work fast to correct the mistake. GPO has lost many business opportunities to changes during the past month,'' he said during the Asia-Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium for university students.
Dr Vichai was named GPO board chairman during the interim government administration.
He was a close aide to former health minister Mongkol Na Songkhla and a key advocate of compulsory licensing (CL) to bypass patents held by drug manufacturers over medicines for Aids, cancer and heart problems. The move has upset multinational drug companies.
Mr Chaiya opposed the CL policy from his first day in office.
Dr Vichai has said he will carry on with licensing.
Mr Chaiya also has to testify to the Administrative Court on July 2 over a remark he made which may be deemed in contempt of court.
In an interview with the media, Mr Chaiya questioned the court's ruling and the qualifications of the judges. But he denied intentionally offending the court.
Mr Chaiya said yesterday he has not seen the court's summons telling him to testify. However, he has asked a lawyer to defend him.
Mr Chaiya is also preparing to appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court against the reinstatement of the Vichai board.
Dr Vichai has insisted Mr Chaiya lacked the legitimacy to remove his board because the minister has to be tried in the Constitution Court for his failure to declare his wife's shares in a private firm exceeding 5%, which is the legal limit.
Mr Chaiya failed to notify the National Counter Corruption Commission of his wife's excess shares within 30 days of his assuming office on Feb 6.
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