Health bill meet sparks protest
Lack of consultation annoys network
Representatives from the network allied with the autonomous state agency ThaiHealth walked out of a public hearing on a proposed amendment to the Health Promotion Foundation Act in disapproval of the way it has been handled.
The allied network, The Family Network Foundation, said the bill lacked public input.
The hearing yesterday, held by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), was the second public hearing on the bill, and more than 200 participants attended. They included representatives from the Finance and Justice ministries, the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) as well as the network allied with ThaiHealth. The first hearing was held last Friday.
Wanchai Boonpracha, manager of the Family Network Foundation, said the drafting process lacked participation from various parties.
He attacked those putting forth the bill, saying they were prejudiced against the existing process of promoting health to Thais.
This kind of attitude has caused people in the network — which has engaged in health promotion for more than 10 years — to doubt whether the concerns it raised during the pubic hearing will actually be heeded.
It was unclear, after the walk-out, whether the hearing yesterday would be counted as the second and last session for the amended bill.
An adviser for the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, Chanika Tuchinda, who was also a former ThaiHealth member, said she felt sympathy for the network, which works alongside the foundation, noting they should have been given a chance to examine the bill as it was being drafted.
She said no one during the public hearing voiced support for the bill or explained why it was necessary. The bill, she said, seems to have been hastily written in response to previous criticism of the foundation without carefully examining all the elements.
A senior journalist, Wichet Pichairat, who took part in the event, said he was told by three ministers that all relevant parties would be invited to join a committee to deliberate the bill. He said this did not happen.
Former official of the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office, Wiwat Sitamanot, disagreed with a statement attached to the amendment which said the measure was crucial.
The statement says some aspects of the ThaiHealth Act conflict with the foundation’s operations and the organisation’s spending was not in line with the principle of good governance, Dr Wiwat said. These arguments, he said, were motivated out of contempt for ThaiHealth.
Marut Jirasrattasiri, MoPH’s chief inspector, said the opinions raised in the hearings will be presented to Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn this month. A joint meeting of the Finance, Justice and Public Health ministries will later be held to determine how the bill can be tweaked to take account of the views, he said.
ThaiHealth manager Supreeda Adulyanon will be invited to take part in the process, Dr Marut said.