The disciplinary action against Dr Supat Hasuwannakit, who has served as a doctor in rural Thailand since graduation, has raised concern among many influential figures, who are now questioning whether this case truly represents an effort to “fight corruption”.
Prinya Thaewanarumitkul, a well-known law lecturer at Thammasat University, recently told the press that after poring over documents related to the case, he found no solid grounds to punish Supat.
“It’s as if someone is working hard to find fault in him,” he said.
Supat, director of Sabayoi Hospital in Songkhla and president of the Rural Doctor Society since 2020, faces possible dismissal over what authorities describe as a grave disciplinary offence related to his role in the COVID-19 crisis.
Between July and August 2021, he procured tens of thousands of antigen test kits (ATKs) through unconventional channels and led a team to Bangkok to provide free COVID-19 tests under the banner of the Rural Doctor Society.
“I managed my university’s field hospital during the pandemic and knew full well that we were racing against time to save lives,” Prinya said. He also noted that the Comptroller General’s Department had exempted some officials of the Finance Ministry from procurement rules to accelerate the emergency response.
Key points in the probe
Prinya said the Rural Doctor Society’s team travelled to Bangkok three times in mid-2021, helping to test more than 190,000 people for COVID-19. Of those, over 20,000 had tested positive. At that stage, the virus was claiming many lives as vaccines were scarcely available, and ATKs were in short supply.
Supat, who had served as director of Chana Hospital for more than two decades, came under scrutiny because he authorised the purchase of 42,854 ATKs in five separate batches, each kept under his individual approval limit of 2 million baht. The total value, however, exceeded 9 million baht, and investigators deemed this “splitting” of purchases a violation.
Generally, civil servants are only penalised when procurements cause harm or loss to the public, and Supat’s supporters argue that his procurement of ATKs did no such damage.
“Plus, this regulation was not applied during the height of the pandemic,” Prinya said, adding that although purchase agreements were issued after Supat had already accepted the kits, he did not, in practice, violate rules that had been temporarily waived anyway.
Investigators have also questioned why Supat’s team of seven to 10 doctors purchased more than 40,000 test kits when they ultimately conducted a little over 20,000 COVID-19 tests during the three visits to Bangkok.
Focus on ‘corrupt intent’
Prinya stressed that while regulations exist to prevent abuse of authority and corruption, the authorities should be lenient with civil servants who have no vested interests, and minor transgressions should draw no more than a warning. Supat has voiced fears that he may lose his job over this case.
“Supat should be protected, because it’s about supporting good governance and transparency,” the legal expert said, arguing that civil servants sometimes bend rules for efficiency, especially during crises.
He also questioned why the disciplinary probe was being kept so secretive that even Supat himself had not been given access to the full details.
Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin defended the confidentiality, saying it was intended to prevent misinformation. Asked whether Supat could be dismissed, Somsak only said nobody should jump to conclusions as the probe results have not been revealed.
“An individual’s comment cannot determine what’s right or wrong. We need to stick to the laws,” he said, adding that efforts to improve existing regulations were already underway.
Meanwhile, prominent public-health advocate Nimit Tienudom said the action against Supat reflected deeper governance problems within the Public Health Ministry.
“We need to speak out in defence of Supat, as he procured and distributed the ATKs with good intentions,” he said, adding that the government officials should demonstrate good governance, rather than “picking on someone”.
“Bureaucratic regulations should facilitate workflow, not hinder it,” Nimit said, warning that punishing Supat would only discourage other officials from taking decisive action in future emergencies.
Mana Nimitmongkol, chief of the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand, said Supat’s case should be transferred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).
“Any internal probe within the Public Health Ministry that finds Supat in the wrong will be considered ‘unfair’,” he said.
Mana also highlighted how political interference in the bureaucracy has grown over recent decades, to the detriment of good governance in the public sector.
“More information should be disclosed to the public. Those in the know should also come out and expose corruption, governance problems, as well as cases of civil servants’ harassment,” Mana said. “That’s the only way to strengthen the people’s sector.”
Procurement regulations under scrutiny
Supat is not the first civil servant to be accused of breaching the government’s procurement regulations despite acting with good intentions. Earlier this month, a 53-year-old state school teacher in Buri Ram lost her job for supporting her principal’s plan to divert part of the lunch budget to repair toilets in 2021.
In June, a 39-year-old teacher in the same province killed herself because she was overwhelmed by the burden of overseeing school finances. In her suicide note, she explained it was impossible to secure receipts from certain suppliers, leaving her personally responsible for unproven expenditures. She lamented that this system was fundamentally unjust.
Recommendations
Assoc Prof Dr Borwornsom Leerapan, a lecturer and researcher at Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, stressed the importance of distinguishing between violations driven by necessity and those driven by self-interest.
“Not complying with regulations does not automatically mean malice,” he said. “We need to be able to differentiate between those who bend rules to solve problems and those who do so for personal gain.”
