Thai government permanently employs over 21,000 nurses

BANGKOK, December 3 (TNA) - The Thai government will gradually give over 21,000 permanent positions to nurses who are working as temps at public hospitals across the country under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Health over the next three years, 7,547 of them each year, with the Thai Cabinet expected to reach a resolution on the matter on December 11. Thai Public Health Minister Dr. Pradit Sintawanarong announced at a press conference on Monday that his ministry will give 7,547 permanent nurse positions each year over the three-year period. As there are 30,188 temporary nurses at the government-run hospitals throughout Thailand, Dr. Pradit said that the rest nurses will be defined as his ministry's permanent employees and will be entitled to official welfare benefits. Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr. Narong Sahamethapat reported that his ministry has about 320,000 staffs totally, 180,000 of them are government officials and over 130,000 are now temps, and that about 31,000 temps are health professionals including nurses, doctors, dentists and pharmacists. According to the senior official, as the Thai government will make 22,641 of them permanent government officials, the Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) will propose the matter to the Thai Cabinet on December 11; while the remaining personnel will become officials of the Public Health Ministry early next year. The announcement was made after about 10 representatives of the temporary nurses and the director of the ministry's Bureau of Nursing, Kanchana Chanthai, met Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to discuss the demand of the temporary nurses that the government give them permanent positions, during which the public health minister and the permanent secretary were also present. (TNA)