THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Anutin rejects allegations of incompetence, refuses to quit

Anutin rejects allegations of incompetence, refuses to quit

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced on Tuesday that he will not resign, adding that medical staff at relevant agencies were still willing to cooperate with him.

Earlier, an online group, "MorJaMaiThon" (Doctors Won’t Bear it Anymore) had launched a campaign demanding Anutin’s resignation.

The campaign, "Call for Minister of Public Health to resign due to failure to resolve the Covid-19 outbreak", was launched at midnight on Friday via Change.org.

As of 8.57am on Tuesday – the campaign had drawn more than 197,397 signatures, very close to its target of 200,000 signatures.

However, some medics sent Anutin messages of support via Facebook, Line and phone calls, and the minister responded by thanking them on his Facebook page. He also posted messages saying he was willing to work with them for the sake of the people.

In his message, he explained that all policies, proposals and orders came from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), which was overseen by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

“If the CCSA does not agree with the Public Health Ministry's proposal, the ministry will have to improve the proposal until it can be approved,” he said, adding that the ministry always complied with CCSA’s policy since it was established in March last year.

He also called on people to avoid political conflicts as they will only affect the operation of medical officials.

"I confirm that there will be no seizure of authority because the prime minister is the leader of the government and director of CCSA,” he added.

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