Lt Gen Thaweesilp Wechvitarn, chief doctor at Police General Hospital, has been transferred to an inactive post after the Medical Council suspended his license for six months from October 1 for aiding former PM Thaksin Shinawatra in staying at the hospital under false claims of serious illness.
The transfer order was signed by the police commissioner general, who has appointed Pol Lt Gen Phaibul Jiamanukulkit as the acting chief doctor at the hospital.
In the order, it stated that the transfer of Pol Lt Gen Thaweesilp, who is currently under investigation, out of the PGH is necessary to ensure orderliness, efficiency and transparency and to prevent potential damage to the hospital.
As a consequence of the order, Thaweesilp is removed from his position as chief doctor at the hospital.
Pol Lt Gen Thaweesilp’s predecessor at the hospital, Pol Lt Gen Sophonrat Singhacharu, had his medical license suspended by the Medical Council for three months as well, also effective from October 1st.
Another doctor, Dr Ruamthip Supaphan, at the Corrections Department’s hospital, was given a formal warning by the Medical Council.
The Medical Council found that Thaweesilp, a neurosurgeon, had issued a letter on September 15th, 2023, insisting that the treatment of Thaksin at the PGH was not over, because of lesions from a surgical procedure which required care and that doctors had to plan for the treatment of serious illnesses.
A second letter, issued by the same doctor, dated September 18th, 2023, stated that Thaksin needed urgent surgery, because he was experiencing considerable pain and weak limbs.
The Medical Council ruled, however, that his assessment of Thaksin’s condition contradicted the facts and that he was a neurosurgeon not an orthopedic surgeon.
Based on the Medical Council’s findings and relevant evidence, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Police Office ruled that the one-year prison sentence, imposed on Thaksin by the Criminal Court on corruption charges, had not been enforced by the Corrections Department and ordered him returned to prison.
