Groups of medical and health care personnel at state-run hospitals who threatened to stage a protest over two controversial budgetary- and employment-related regulations called off their rally on Thursday after the rules were temporarily shelved.
The Rural Doctors Society (RDS), which is leading the movement, agreed to cease its planned gathering at the Finance Ministry on Friday after the latter announced it would suspend its ministerial regulation requiring hospitals to "avoid" hiring staff whose salaries are paid for by the hospitals themselves rather than from the state budget.
If they insist on recruiting more personnel using non-budgetary income, the hospitals were required under the same regulation, which took effect on May 18, to first seek approval from the ministry's Comptroller-General's Department.
Citing staff who had already been hired but whose contracts would soon come up for renewal, the hospitals said the change in policy would limit their flexibility in terms of managing human resources, said Dr Kriengsak Vacharanukulkieti, president of the RDS.
He said the move was perceived as an attempt to further centralise their administrative power.
Of the 400,000 or so medical doctors working at state-run hospitals, only about 5% are civil servants who are permanent staff hired using the state budget, he said. The rest are paid for using the hospitals' own income.
About half of all other health care personnel are contracted employees hired using non-budgetary income, he added.
Dr Kriengsak said the RDS must respect the ministry's attempt to compromise by axing the planned protest but he suspected the regulations would not end up being changed.
The RDS said it would closely monitor the situation to see how the ministry proceeds to resolve the conflict, adding it would give the Public Health Ministry one month to find a solution.
That ministry agreed to revise a similar regulation as soon as possible, according to Jesada Chokdamrongsuk, the permanent secretary for public health.
The suspension of the Finance Ministry regulations comes amid growing resistance from medical and health care personnel.
Prasong Poontaneat, the permanent secretary for finance, said the rules were not changed because the Finance Ministry wanted to centralise power in terms of managing the human resources of other ministries.
Rather, the goal was to set a common standard to benefit the public sector overall, he said.
He said that making hospitals seek permission from the Finance Ministry for new contracts wouldn't stall their work because they are allowed to submit such requests six months in advance. Moreover, the ministry can process them quickly, he added.
Dr Kriengsak said the new regulation was unnecessary as the ministry can control hospitals' expenditures by limiting their labour costs in relation to their total income.
Hospitals could also submit detailed accounts of their labour costs on an annual basis, he noted.