Signature campaign demanding Anutin’s resignation expands further
The campaign calling for Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s resignation launched via Change.org had exceeded its target of 200,000 signatures on Tuesday afternoon.
However, the online group “MorJaMaiThon” (Doctors Won’t Bear It Anymore), which launched the campaign at midnight on Friday, has raised the target to 300,000 signatures. As of 2.54pm on Tuesday, the campaign had collected 203,882 signatures.
The group said the Covid-19 situation in Thailand proves that Anutin does not have the capacity to control the outbreak through proper policy-making, resource management, vaccine procurement or boosting confidence among medical personnel.
Citing comments Anutin made in interviews, the group said it was clear he had no proper vision when it came to controlling the outbreak, especially now that it has gone out of control.
The group cited several comments Anutin made, including dismissing the virus initially, saying “it’s just a common cold”, and declaring “doctors who were not careful enough to avoid infection should be scolded” when medical personnel began getting infected.
“Public acknowledgment of all these failures proves that we cannot afford to squander our precious time and must bring an end to management that is not effective enough by calling on Anutin to resign and letting those who have the ability to take over when the country is in a crisis,” the campaign said.