
Students and civil society groups have offered moral support to the Medical Council of Thailand as it awaits the records of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from the Police General Hospital (PGH) as part of an investigation into possible breaches of medical ethics.
The council had set Wednesday as the deadline for the hospital to provide the ex-premier’s medical records as part of its investigation into the ethics of the doctors who were involved in his treatment.
It demanded details on Thaksin’s admission and treatment, all doctors who treated him and their statements on the treatment, and all certified documents concerning his treatment during the six-month period from the day he was admitted to the day he was discharged in February this year.
Thaksin, 75, was sentenced to eight years in prison — later reduced to one year by a royal pardon — after returning to Thailand last August. He never spent a single night in jail, and became eligible for parole after six months.
Inmates are legally permitted to receive treatment outside prison for 120 days, but the Department of Corrections allowed him to continue his stay at the hospital for 180 days, saying that conditions in jail could threaten his life.
Thaksin paid all the costs for his six-month stay, including a VIP room on the hospital’s 14th floor that cost 8,500 baht a night, a parliamentary committee was told in November.
Pichit Chaimongkol, leader of the Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand, said the groups applauded the effort of the medical council to uncover the truth about Thaksin’s prolonged hospital stay.
He urged the Ministry of Public Health not to interfere in the council’s investigation or use it to whitewash those involved in arranging Thaksin’s hospital stay instead of serving time in prison.
“If this issue is allowed to pass, the only thing ‘sick’ will be the country’s justice system,” he said.
He said that if the police, who oversee the hospital, fail to provide Thaksin’s medical records, the groups would gather at Government House to demand action from Thaksin’s daughter, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. He stressed the government has a responsibility to uphold the law.
A legal representative from the medical council on Wednesday thanked the groups for their support.
If the hospital does not hand over Thaksin’s records, an investigative committee from the council will deliberate based on the information it has gathered, or it could invite state agencies to give further information, he said.