The Public Health Ministry is trying to persuade the Office of Civil Service Commission (OCSC) to hire more doctors for the public sector in order to ease the shortage in state hospitals.
"We have already raised the issue with the OCSC," Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said yesterday.
He said some 1,300 students should be graduating from state medical schools this year and are supposed to serve in state hospitals for at least three years. However, the Public Health Ministry has vacancies for only 800 positions.
Of the new doctors, 391 will start working in their hometowns. These graduates have studied under a special scheme with Khon Kaen University, Chulalongkorn University, Chiang Mai University, Thammasat University, Naresuan University, Mahidol University and Prince of Songkla University.
Under the scheme, graduates have to serve at state hospitals in their home provinces for three full years.
About 25 of the graduates would be based in the southern border provinces, where violence is rife, while the rest will work in remote areas in other parts of the country.
Since it was launched in 1995, this special scheme has already produced 1,748 doctors.
Prof Dr Atthasit Vejjajiva, a former public health minister, told the graduates that their work was very important because it was a matter of life and death. "Act in line with ethics, morality and etiquette," he told the 391 graduates.
