Public health personnel are protesting against new rules involving the hiring of temporary staff outside the annual budget planning process and have demanded the finance minister and others involved resign.
At the centre of the controversy are four Finance Ministry directives which recommend that state agencies avoid hiring of workers off-budget and prohibit pay hikes for temporary employees.
Temporary positions and hiring schemes which were in place before the regulations took effect on May 18 and were not earlier approved should not be renewed after the terms end, the directives say.
Temporary workers must be hired at minimum legal pay rates and on a fiscal yearly basis, or within a permitted period, and the Finance Ministry must be consulted first.
Led by the Rural Doctors Society, public health personnel have slammed the regulations, saying they will put a further strain on manpower at community hospitals and demoralise temporary employees.
They claimed hospitals which face staff shortages usually seek to hire temporary staff to cover the work.
Some of the hiring schemes are funded by public donations which do not involve the finance ministry.
According to critics, the regulations are likely to complicate the process and discourage potential staff from working in the public health sector.
To step up the pressure against the Finance Ministry, the public health community will hold a rally outside the ministry on June 1.
On its Facebook page, the Rural Doctors Society published photos from various hospitals opposing and criticising the Finance Ministry's regulations.
Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn urged the public health community Wednesday to stay calm while health authorities were negotiating with the ministry over the issue.
"We're not doing anything that will affect the public service and morale of personnel," Dr Piyasakol said in a video conference call from Switzerland where he was attending a World Health Organisation conference.
Thawat Suntarajan, assistant to the public health minister, said public health executives would ask the ministry to postpone the move and set up a joint committee to study the matter.
Public health permanent secretary Jetsada Chokedamrongsuk on Wednesday promised to urge the ministry to delay the measure.
Meanwhile, Suttirat Rattanachot, director-general of the Comptroller-General's Department, said a misunderstanding has arisen about the regulations involving the hiring of temporary workers.
She said the rules require the new hiring schemes to be approved by the Comptroller-General's Department for oversight of off-budget spending in this area.
She noted that any hiring schemes which were approved by the department can proceed.
These included the Public Health Ministry's hiring of 7,900 temporary employees under a one-year contract.