Medical Council can't let public down

Kudos to Tul Sithisomwong, a lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, and a member of the Medical Council of Thailand for having the courage to voice his disagreement with the council's decision last Friday to postpone consideration of its subcommittee's findings on former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's treatment for suspicious "life-threatening" illnesses at the Police General Hospital.

- THINK PRAGMATIC Veera Prateepchaikul

It is a lone voice. In Thai society these days, so many people have fallen silent as if they have submitted to the extra-judicial power which has taken control of this country from top to bottom.

The reason for the indefinite postponement of the deliberation, which was scheduled to take place on April 10, is rejected by the council's announcement as the subcommittee investigating the case, headed by Dr Amorn Leelarasamee, had just received a big pile of documents from the Police General Hospital and the Corrections Department's hospital.

The unexpected arrival of the documents, on March 31 and April 1 respectively, has made it impossible for the probe panel to present its findings within the April 10 deadline, because the panel needs more time to study the documents.

Dr Amorn's panel did not give a definite timeline on when its investigation will be completed, and when it plans to submit its findings to the Medical Council.

The council's move was a big letdown for those who believed this much respected professional organisation will be able to shed the light on this demoralising issue, at a time when the entire bureaucratic system, especially the National Anti-Corruption Commission, has lost its credibility and become submissive to "you-know-who."