Rural Doctors revive protest threat
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The Rural Doctors Society and the Network for Justice in Health Systems vowed yesterday to push ahead with their demand for Public Health Minister Pradith Sinthawanarong's to be sacked and to protest outside Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's house.
“If we aren’t happy with the government’s sincerity in keeping its promises and following up on our demands to resolve the controversial medical allowance issue and stop the political interference in the healthcare system, we will absolutely gather before Yingluck’s house,” said Dr Kriangsak Watcharanukulkiat, president of the society.
Pradith said he would today invite representatives from the society to help the ministry establish a special committee to revise the criteria to pay additional allowances to medical workers including doctors, dentists, pharmacists and nurses. The criteria are based on the pay for performance principle, or P4P.
The society issued a statement yesterday to inform to public it had received no response to its demands to reform the medical salary system and keep politicians away from two agencies – the National Health Security Office and Government Pharmaceutical Organisation – from the mobile Cabinet meeting in Kamphaeng Phet on Monday.
The resolution from last week’s talks between the network and the government was not considered by Cabinet, Kriangsak said.
“The Cabinet responded only to the recommendation issued by Pradith from his personal viewpoint,” he said.
“The negotiations were only a fake talk set up by the government. It was just a political game,” he said.
According to the resolution, Pradith told the public he would form a special committee to revise implementation of the P4P scheme, to allow representatives from the society to attend.
Kriangsak said he was called by PM’s secretary Surand Vejjajiva, who asked him not to stage a mass demonstration at Yingluck’s house. Kriangsak said he would meet him to talk again in two days.
