Medical council requests records of Dhammachayo

If the request is turned down, the council will conclude that his medical certificate – and his claimed illness – are fraudulent, council president Dr Somsak Lolekha said yesterday. 

The temple claims the abbot is seriously ill and is unable to report to the head office of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to face charges of money laundering and receiving ill-gotten wealth, despite summons being issued and a subsequent arrest warrant.

Before the council’s meeting yesterday, which discussed the assignment of a sub-panel to investigate the abbot’s medical certificate, Somsak said the sub-panel would summon Lt-Colonel Dr Siripong Pattanapisut, the doctor who issued the certificate, for questioning.

The council also requires details about the abbot’s health, including blood test, ultrasound and X-ray results, be submitted by the temple’s Saha Rattanavej Clinic. 

The requirement is within the council’s authority, Somsak said, but added that it did not need to send its own doctors to diagnose the abbot.

If the request is turned down, the council will conclude that fraud has been perpetrated and punish Siripong, possibly by revoking his licence to practise medicine, Somsak said. 

To back the claim about the abbot’s illness, a doctor’s medical certificate was presented to officials but the Ratchaburi-based hospital where Siripong practises claimed the certificate was issued without the hospital’s knowledge. 

Spokespeople for the hospital said the doctor, who is also facing internal disciplinary proceedings, examined the abbot at the temple without the hospital’s authorisation. 

Somsak said Phra Dhammakaya Temple had withdrawn a request for a neutral doctor to examine the abbot, claiming the DSI would not take the council’s medical diagnosis into account and that the temple did not want to pressure the council.