PM apologises to ThaiHealth board

BANGKOK: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha has backed down on his order issued last week suspending the entire board of Thai Health Promotion Foundation from active duties.

He said that all the board members could resume work as normal as of Monday. He added that if the board had any problem with staff shortage then they should recruit more people so that work could proceed without interruption.

The prime minister also offered an apology to the board members for their temporary suspension. He said he didn’t want them to harbour any misunderstanding against him and that he merely wanted to see ThaiHealth perform better.

The prime minister maintained that he didn’t think the board was corrupt or did anything wrong.

ThaiHealth was earlier accused of improperly providing its fund to agencies unrelated to health promotion.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/pm-apologises-to-thaihealth-board

-- Thai PBS 2016-01-16

My bad. We were just joking. BOO!

Had ya there didn't I?

Any chance he'll learn from this ' in with both feet ' episode ?

I'll venture an opinion of NO !

I suspect that a few lawsuits were starting to materialise

before sacking someone you need to investigate and have the evidence beforehand

good thing it was not a execution.

The PM and former head of the Army but still powerless against the well connected.

Seems there may well be others that have friends in high places,

BUT BUT BUT, I'm the boss don't you all know that? My sooopa dooopa special powers (Article 44) just aint working right??????????

Bloody Thaksin is to blame in this somewhere,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The health system in LOS is just as sick and corrupt as every other industry here.

Baiting posts of a stalking nature have been removed.

I'm speechless! No, not the right word. Scared to speak is probably closer to the truth. Oh wait! Not to supposed to say the truth here. OOPS! probably said too much already. My bad.

Apologize? that must be a first for the PM.........must have rattled some important cages

it's never good when the same person assigns in a government institution procurement contracts while occupied also a leading positions in a firm which try to get and win the tenderer.

Collision of interest which can lead to bribery and corruption.

I suspect that a few lawsuits were starting to materialise

before sacking someone you need to investigate and have the evidence beforehand

The dismissal was done by Prayut as Chief of the NCPO invoking Article 44 of the Interim Charter. That cuts through any civil laws and regulations. No investigation or evidence is required.

Under the Charter actions taken by the NCPO under Article 44 are constitutional and has the force of law. Other than bringing public and/or political pressure on Prayut, law suits against NCPO actions would be meaningless. Especially since the NCPO also has judicial authority.

I suspect that a few lawsuits were starting to materialise

before sacking someone you need to investigate and have the evidence beforehand

The dismissal was done by Prayut as Chief of the NCPO invoking Article 44 of the Interim Charter. That cuts through any civil laws and regulations. No investigation or evidence is required.

Under the Charter actions taken by the NCPO under Article 44 are constitutional and has the force of law. Other than bringing public and/or political pressure on Prayut, law suits against NCPO actions would be meaningless. Especially since the NCPO also has judicial authority.

"Other than bringing public and/or political pressure on Prayut, law suits against NCPO actions would be meaningless. Especially since the NCPO also has judicial authority."

And graciously granted themselves an amnesty from all past, present and future crimes.

The PM and former head of the Army but still powerless against the well connected.

The reason that Thaihealth was being attacked by Prayuth is that it has been funding campaigns against "well connected" polluters (similar to the gold company who wanted to sue the 15 year old) whose activities are damaging to health.

They also fund anti-smoking, anti-alcohol, health and safety, etc, campaigns. That's their job.

Their income derives from a levy on tobacco/alcohol sales.

They are an irritant to the well connected.

Edited January 16, 201610 yr by Enoon

it's never good when the same person assigns in a government institution procurement contracts while occupied also a leading positions in a firm which try to get and win the tenderer.

Collision of interest which can lead to bribery and corruption.

You don't know what Thaihealth is do you?

GOOD OLD SAYING "Engage brain before declutching mouth" applies here again to the PM

The PM and former head of the Army but still powerless against the well connected.

The reason that Thaihealth was being attacked by Prayuth is that it has been funding campaigns against "well connected" polluters (similar to the gold company who wanted to sue the 15 year old) whose activities are damaging to health.

They also fund anti-smoking, anti-alcohol, health and safety, etc, campaigns. That's their job.

Their income derives from a levy on tobacco/alcohol sales.

They are an irritant to the well connected.

I maintain my view that to gain an apology from the PM they are well connected.

As for their campaigns well they're as effective and as real as the enforcement of the general laws of the land. Ashtrays on restaurant tables under the no smoking signs, rubbish everywhere, burning of land to clear crop stubble, it goes on.

No doubt their role is to leverage what they can from those you say they irritate, or simply talk and take no action.

This is all very mysterious. Amazing that the PM was willing to withstand such a massive and public loss of face. Clearly there are people on the scene that are more powerful and pulling more levers than him. Looks like someone was running too far ahead of his masters and the leash got yanked back. I would tend to think that, if anything, a health promotion board would make enemies of big business interests, so it seems unlikely that we're seeing the impact of a wealthy 'patron' here. Just what might have happened behind the scenes I won't even hazard to guess...

This is all very mysterious. Amazing that the PM was willing to withstand such a massive and public loss of face. Clearly there are people on the scene that are more powerful and pulling more levers than him. Looks like someone was running too far ahead of his masters and the leash got yanked back. I would tend to think that, if anything, a health promotion board would make enemies of big business interests, so it seems unlikely that we're seeing the impact of a wealthy 'patron' here. Just what might have happened behind the scenes I won't even hazard to guess...

He may have realised that 50 million poor voters liked the system as it was better than nothing and he may require their votes in the next decade!

Can't help myself on this one

Someone must have whispered to Prayuth that these guys from Thai-Health actually supported the coup. So he said sorry 3 times.

Didn't he have someone sacked for summarily firing someone from office? Perhaps he realized that people would go after him for doing exactly that and this had to backtrack..

Didn't he have someone sacked for summarily firing someone from office? Perhaps he realized that people would go after him for doing exactly that and this had to backtrack..

He should have transferred them all to inactive posts.

Anyone can make a mistake. At least he is big enough to say he was wrong. And yes, let's hope he learns something from this.

Perhaps there is hope he will take another look at the Koh Tao case.

Huh? "The prime minister maintained that he didn’t think the board was corrupt or did anything wrong." Then why did he suspend them? Felt a sudden "power" surge coming on?

An inflammatory post has been removed.

Another case of shoot first. Ask questions later. Seems to be the norm lately. Going off half cocked !

Anyone can make a mistake. At least he is big enough to say he was wrong. And yes, let's hope he learns something from this.

Perhaps there is hope he will take another look at the Koh Tao case.

As best I can recall, the only time he weighed in on the Koh Tao case was to say that only ugly women should feel safe in bikinis.

Another case of shoot first. Ask questions later. Seems to be the norm lately. Going off half cocked !

Ready! Fire! Aim.

Another case of shoot first. Ask questions later. Seems to be the norm lately. Going off half cocked !

Ready! Fire! Aim.

.........damn, my foot got in the way again!