It is now highly likely the ministry will stick to the current age of 18 years old.

The movement came after the proposal in form of a new bill of alcohol consumption control was rejected by the Cabinet on Tuesday, saying the proposal would not work in practice.

"Personally, I didn't agree [to extend the legal age to buy alcohol to 25] in the first place," said Dr Thawat Suntrajarn, the director general of the Disease Control Department.

"Since people of age 18 are eligible to vote, they should be mature enough to think for themselves on anything else," said the doctor.

"We want it to be a practical directive, not just a piece of paper."

The ministry's panel setup to look into the matter was to meet with other organisations involved at Government House on Tuesday to finalise the proposal before resubmitting it to the Cabinet again within the next two weeks.

It was very likely to revert to the 18 year-old minimum age as in the current law, Thawat said

There were always two ideas throughout the drafting and public hearings on this bill, said Thawat. One wanted the minimum age to remain at 18, whereas the other went for 25.

The side supporting to extend the legal age to 25 reasoned that many accidents involving alcohol were found in people studying at undergraduate level, said Thawat.