SSO director stands by scholarships
THE inspector-general of the Social Security Office (SSO) has defended a scholarship programme that enables medical and nursing students to study overseas amid criticism from a group of SSO beneficiaries who want the scheme scrapped.
Kowit Sajjawiset guaranteed the transparency of the scheme, which provides scholarships for students as long as they serve in hospitals that have contracts with the SSO in career fields related to the bio-vocational degree they studied.
An investigation into the policy, first adopted in 2012, is underway on the order of Labour Minister Surasak Kanjanarat due to criticism by the SSO beneficiaries.
Under the scheme, 12 students receive a grant of Bt330,000 and the number of students awarded grants is set to rise in the future.
Meanwhile, Kowit said the SSO would comply with a final decision by the National Legislative Assembly in relation to an ongoing amendment of SSO regulations if the body kept a key condition giving beneficiaries who resigned from work a payment equal to 30 per cent of their final salary for three months.
He does not agree with the beneficiaries who lodged a petition with the Central Administrative Court calling for the bill to be frozen if the condition were left out, saying that the inactivation of the law would affect a large number of people.
Last year, 17,696 jobs were terminated and the sacked employees were paid Bt102.58 million in benefits while 79,364 employees quit their jobs and were paid Bt250.88 million, he said.
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