Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on Tuesday that she has not yet received additional details about the treatment of her father, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, during his jail term at Police General Hospital.
She was referring to an earlier interview during which she said details were being sought from the Medical Council of Thailand, which has been investigating the case.
She insisted, however, that Thaksin had undergone medical treatment at the time as claimed. “He even had surgeries [during his stay],” she said
Ms Paetongtarn is among those scheduled to be questioned at the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on June 13 about her father’s medical treatment. Thaksin will not attend but will submit a written presentation, his lawyer said earlier.
The court has taken it upon itself to investigate whether Thaksin’s prison sentence was properly carried out, after dismissing a petition from a former MP seeking an investigation as he was not a directly affected party.
Ms Paetongtarn dismissed speculation that the case is part of the political manoeuvring to break up the government.
“[Thaksin] is 75 years old and he recovers much slower nowadays from health problems,” she said. “However, it is all right. Our family has been through so much. What we can do is be strong.”
Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin, meanwhile, has denied an allegation that he used his position as a special president of the medical council to block an ethics investigation into the doctors involved in Thaksin’s treatment. The council is scheduled to release a report on Thursday.
Dr Warong Detkitvikrom, chairman of the Thai Pakdee Party, posted earlier on his Facebook page that Mr Somsak might have used his authority to block the results.
Mr Somsak said he normally agreed with the council’s findings, and he could not influence all 72 members of its board to vote in a certain direction.
Jatuporn Prompan, leader of the activist network People’s Unity Group, said on social media that two of the doctors at the police hospital might end up having their medical licences suspended.
Five more doctors from the police hospital and the Corrections Hospital will also be investigated, and possibly face more severe punishment, he added.
Thaksin, 75, was sentenced to eight years in prison — later reduced to one year by a royal pardon — after returning to Thailand in August 2023. 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 prison 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.
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