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Published on December 22, 2007

He said he had been impressed by the party before joining as a candidate and had worked with the Democrats as a public health academic before the 2006 coup.

"The Democrat Party is the oldest party in Thailand and I feel it is a real political institution. Now that I have worked in the party I can see everything is systematic and suitable for a proper political party," said Pitak.

He said the party had taught him many things and sometimes he felt as if he were back at school.

Pitak said his strength comes from the Democrats' team in Constituency 5, which consists of three new MP candidates - Kongsak Yodmanee, Wittayen Muttamara and himself - who all have different skills to offer people in areas of public health, economics, law and environmental issues.

The only weakness is that they are all new faces, he admitted.

If elected, Pitak said he would use the law to solve public health problems. He believes the country needs to do research to see if it is more suitable for a "market-based system" in which people pay for health insurance or for the "tax-based system" in which the government uses its tax revenue for the national public health service. Pitak feels it might be suitable for a mixture of both systems for efficient health financing.

Moreover, a good public health system should give prominence to both the service providers and the receivers. Meanwhile, state and private public health institutions should join hands to form an integrated healthcare system, he said.

Biodata

Name: Pitak Thanbancha

Age: 33

Education: PhD candidate in Economics, University of London;

Master of Science, Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University;

Bachelor of Medicine, Phramongkutklao College of Medicine, Mahidol University

The Nation