Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong said that doctors at the Police General Hospital have sent a report on convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s health to the director-general of the Corrections Department.
After receiving the report, he explained that the Corrections Department chief will call a meeting of doctors attached to the department to consider and confirm the report, before it is submitted to him.
He said that the doctor’s full report about Thaksin’s illnesses is confidential and protected by law and, therefore, cannot be published, but some general information can be disclosed because this is a matter of public interest.
Thaksin has been treated at the Police General Hospital since his arrival in Thailand on August 22nd and has been there beyond the 120-day limit for an imprisoned convict. If he is to be allowed to remain there, special permission from the director-general of the Corrections Department must be granted, based on the doctors’ assessment of his health.
Regarding a report that members of the House Police Affairs Committee, led by Democrat MP Chaichana Detdecho, will visit Thaksin at the hospital on January 13th, Tawee said he is yet to receive a request from the House panel, adding that the Corrections Department has regulations covering prison visits.
A special Corrections Department panel is in the process of drafting guidelines for the screening of prisoners who may qualify to serve their remaining terms outside prison, as part of the department’s attempt to ease overcrowding.
