Mahidol urged to dump alcohol logo
The Stop Drinking Network yesterday urged Mahidol University (MU) and its Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital to remove the logo of an alcohol company from posters and material promoting Mahidol Day.
Mahidol Day is celebrated on September 24 every year to remember Prince Mahidol, who is dubbed the Father of Modern Medicine in Thailand. The late prince is the father of the current monarch.
"As a medical school, the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital should not allow the logo of an alcohol company to appear in material promoting Mahidol Day," the network's manager Thira Watcharapranee said.
He said more than 116 activists from non-government organisations and the Buddhist sector had sent a joint letter to the faculty dean, university president, and MU Council president to make the point.
Thira said the university and its Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital should stop accepting any sponsor whose logo was the same or similar to that of alcohol products.
"Other educational institutes should not recruit alcohol companies as sponsors either," he said.
Thira said if health organisations were duped into promoting the logos of alcohol companies, it would become hard for people in general to realise the danger of alcohol. He said 26,000 people were killed by alcohol in Thailand every year.
