Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has offered his support to Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who is facing increasing pressure from an online campaign pushing for his resignation from the health minister post over his handling of the Covid-19 crisis.
As of press time on Tuesday, the number of people supporting the petition on Change.org's website to pressure Mr Anutin to resign from the position already had reached 208,074.
A source said the prime minister extended his moral support to Mr Anutin's deputy, Sathit Pitutecha, when the PM met both of them at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Pholphi Suwanchawi, a deputy secretary-general of the prime minister, who has been working closely together with Mr Anutin, urged those who hold a grudge against Mr Anutin to instead voice their criticism as to what Mr Anutin could have done better; before adding he believes Mr Anutin will be willing to listen to such constructive criticism.
Mr Anutin has great determination in whatever he does, said Mr Pholphi of the Public Health Minister.
When it was agreed Thailand needed vaccines to be shipped here faster than initially planned when the country was suddenly hit hard by a Covid-19 resurgence in Samut Sakhon, Mr Anutin was the one who offered to bypass a lengthy process of procuring the vaccine from China.
He put into good use his connections when seeking direct talks with Chinese diplomats and eventually securing the Covid-19 vaccine from Sinovac Biotech in time for use during the last outbreak, said Mr Pholphi.
Mr Anutin had even offered to find a special flight to transport the vaccine to Thailand and pay for the service with his own money in case any round of vaccine deliveries encountered problems that may delay the shipment plan, he said.
And when Myanmar’s political violence prompted a flow of migrants fleeing into Mae Hong Son, Mr Anutin rushed to the border and made a quick decision to adjust the government’s Covid-19 vaccination plan so that shots of the vaccine could be diverted and administered to frontline healthcare workers handling illegal migrants at the border, said Mr Pholphi.