Elected members of medical council to show up in almost full force for Thursday’s vote

All but one of the elected members of the Medical Council of Thailand are expected to attend the meeting on Thursday, when the council will vote on whether to reaffirm its resolution regarding the case of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s extended hospital stay.

A source from the medical council said almost all elected members would attend the meeting to ensure there is no lack of quorum.
However, the quorum will also depend on the attendance of all the ex-officio members of the council, the source explained.

The 70 members of the medical council are split into 35 ex-officio members and 35 elected members.

The ex-officio members include four doctors from the Public Health Ministry, five from the Defence Ministry, and the remainder from the medical schools of public universities.

On May 8, the medical council resolved to punish three doctors for providing opinions supporting the approval of Thaksin’s stay at the Police General Hospital instead of in prison for up to 180 days.

However, Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin vetoed the resolution. The council then scheduled Thursday's meeting to decide whether to reaffirm the resolution. To do so, the resolution must receive two-thirds of the votes from the 70 members—47 votes, which could be difficult to achieve due to the presence of ex-officio members.

Earlier, Somsak stated that he would attend the meeting to explain why he vetoed the resolution.

 “I may not stay until the voting is done. I’ll be there just to seek understanding so we can have a discussion,” Somsak said.

 A medical council member, Prof Dr Amorn Leelarassamee, confirmed that Somsak would not be allowed to participate in the vote.