PUBLISHED : 10 Jan 2024 at 12:59
Members of the House committee on police affairs will on Friday visit the Police General Hospital but it is still uncertain if they will be able to see its most high-profile patient, convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Committee chairman Chaichana Detdecho said on Wednesday that the hospital had approved the visit, which was timed for 10am on Friday, as requested.
The hospital management agreed to let the committee inspect the sixth floor of the Sriyanont Building and meet a police colonel who oversees the hospital’s operations, he said.
Thaksin was reportedly admitted to the 14th floor of the hospital’s Maha Bhumibol Rachanusorn 88 Phansa Building on Aug 22 last year.
According to Mr Chaichana, the House committee will ask about service standards for prisoners and seek information on all admitted inmates including Thaksin, to see if he was being treated the same as the others. The cost of medical treatment for admitted inmates is met by the National Health Security Office, he said.
“Degrees of illnesses cannot be made public, but we must know about the kinds of illnesses, the number of inmates admitted to the hospital and the services it provides them,” Mr Chaichana said. “We will see how much permission the Police General Hospital allows. Can we meet the inmates in person, or see them by CCTV?”
Former MP Niphit Intharasombat has meanwhile suggested that the National Anti-Corruption Commission should investigate the government officials responsible for Thaksin’s treatment outside prison. If it does not do so, then people should ask the president of the Supreme Court to appoint independent investigators to do the job, he said.
Thaksin, 74, returned to Thailand on Aug 22 after 15 years of self-exile and entered the justice system. He had been convicted and later sentenced in absentia for corruption and abuse of authority while in office prior to the military coup in 2006. He was taken to court that same day and sentenced to eight years in prison, later reduced to one year by royal clemency.
The former premier was immediately admitted to Bangkok Remand Prison and later that night moved to the Police General Hospital for “medical reasons”, and reportedly has been there ever since.
By law, the minister of justice must acknowledge any stay exceeding 120 days by an inmate receiving medical treatment outside a prison hospital. That deadline passed on Dec 21.
The acknowledgement must be based on a report from the chief of the Department of Corrections.