Medical Council says Mahidol has to handle fraud claim in dog’s death

Council spokeswoman Chanwalee Srisukho said it had no mandate to judge the student’s morals or ethics, but it does have a sub-committee that works with medical schools in such cases. 
The comments follow a complaint filed with Sutthisan police in Bangkok last week by Nattanan Jeerawiwitporn, owner of a Bangkok-based transport firm.
Nattanan alleged that a medical student had attempted to defraud her by demanding compensation over the death of his insured pet Pomeranian, when in fact, she said, the firm had delivered the dog safely to a clinic in Nakhon Ratchasima. 
An initial police investigation found that the accused had apparently faked a certificate stating the dog’s purchase price. The student is to be summoned for questioning later this week.
Chanwalee said Dr Prasit Wattanapa, dean of the faculty and also president of the Medical Council, would consider the matter fairly, weighing potential harm to both the student and patients at the hospital.
She pointed out that the Medical Profession Act 1982 prohibits anyone who is convicted of a crime from obtaining a licence to practise medicine. 
She said most students in the faculty had been top of their classes in high school and were often prone to stress. The student accused of fraud has been identified as a victim of stress.
One study overseas found that 20 per cent of medical students had “mental issues” stemming from stress and 20 per cent of those were deemed at risk of attempting suicide, Chanwalee noted.
As a result, Thai medical schools have lecturers who are specialists in psychiatry overseeing and regularly screening students to try and ensure that those with minor issues receive treatment and those with serious problems are reassigned to less stressful positions.