Pradit warns critics of libel action

Public Health Minister Pradit Sinthawanarong yesterday warned that those accusing him of wrongdoing could face libel lawsuits. He also vowed that the government would not change or discontinue its policies to improve the country’s public health system even if Pradit was removed from the ministerial position.

“I’ve been thinking about whether what I’ve done during the past few months is right or wrong for the people. I’ve decided that I have to follow the policies I announced to the public on the first day I landed in this post,” he told a press conference yesterday. Pradit has been criticised for his pro-active policy and his probes of alleged irregularities at the ministry in the past seven months. “All I have done is to improve the national health security and the universal healthcare scheme. I will not shy away from this job until I feel I can no longer do good for the people,” he added.

Since becoming minister on November 2, Pradit’s policy has been accused of destroying the public health system, weakening the national health security and benefiting private hospitals. “There was no evidence for this accusation,” he said.

During Pradit’s first three months in this post, he tried to adjust the allowance for medical workers, especially doctors, by introducing pay-for-performance or P4P scheme as well as improve the work efficiency and healthcare services at state hospitals.

But this policy was strongly opposed by a large group of medical workers at rural hospitals and the Rural Doctors’ Society, as they claimed the new system would push doctors to work at private hospitals. They said it reduced the amount of their current allowance, which is based on the location and the number of years the person has worked.

In late March, a group of rural doctors and medical workers held a massive protest, demanding that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra drop this policy from a Cabinet resolution, but there was no response. 

The Rural Doctors’ Society recently vowed to organise another demonstration on June 6 in front of Yingluck’s home, to submit their demands. The society also blamed Pradit, saying his P4P policy was part of a plan to weaken state hospitals and encourage doctors to work at private hospitals.

Pradit also faces opposition from health advocates who accuse him of trying to destroy the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) by having the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) probe irregularities in the procurement of precursor drugs to produce paracetamol, as well as delays in building a flu-vaccine factory and an HIV/Aids drug plant. The DSI found that the former GPO director Witit Artavatkun had breached a number of laws and will send its findings to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for further investigation.

The GPO’s executive board agreed to fire Witit for negligence, due to his failure to prevent irregularities in buying paracetamol ingredients and the flu-vaccine factory construction delay. Pradit was accused of being behind the GPO’s board decision and the DSI probe. Pradit, meanwhile, insisted that the GPO’s executive board and the DSI had done the job themselves.