Plan on creating more doctors for rural Thai areas

BANGKOK, February 7 (TNA) - As rural areas in Thailand are facing a shortage of doctors or medical personnel, Public Health Minister Dr. Rajata Rajatanavin says that he plans to create more doctors for upcountry to cope with rising demand. Dr. Rajata told journalists on Saturday there are signs that more doctors in rural areas will either ask for a transfer to big cities or resign from their jobs in public hospitals, citing the northeastern Khon Kaen Province as an example that there are now about 3,700 doctors there and they have to take care of more than 1.7 million people in the province. To cope with the existing shortage of medical personnel, Dr. Rajata revealed, Khon Kaen Hospital and its networks have come up with an idea to create doctors by selecting bright students and supporting those wishing to become doctor to learn medicine or medical science. According to the public health minister, rural organisations should play a major role in selecting the medical students to learn the subjects so that, upon graduation, they have a strong bond of relations with people in the areas and prefer to work for the local communities. The public health minister suggested that the selected medical students be inculcated to have a positive attitude on bringing better changes to their areas. (TNA)