The Democrat Party yesterday vowed to patch up any differences related to the Medical Malpractice Victim Protection Bill before it is forwarded to Parliament for deliberation.
"We will ensure that the bill not only seeks to protect users of medical services but also reduces medical malpractice lawsuits," Democrat Party's spokesman Dr Buranat Samutrak said yesterday.
He said public forums would be held to gather information from all sides, and only aspects of the bill that are acceptable to all would be forwarded to the Parliament.
This promise came as many doctors stepped up their protest against the bill, which they said would adversely affect relations between patients and medical professionals.
About 200 black-clad doctors and nurses yesterday turned up at the Public Health Ministry's office to express their opposition against the controversial bill.
"We are concerned about a few clauses in the bill, especially those on pursuing criminal complaints against doctors," Dr Pojana Kong-ngern said yesterday in her capacity as chairperson of Federation of Thai Doctors, Main Hospitals and General Hospitals.
She said the bill would sow the seeds of distrust and apprehension medical-service sector.
"We agree that the bill has the good intention of protecting medical malpractice victims, but there are some controversial issues in there too," Pojana said.
According to her, medical workers who disagree with this bill will wear black every Friday in a show of protest. "We will wear black until the bill is amended," she said, adding that she would gather more than 10,000 signatures for seeking amendments, if necessary.
Doctors from various provinces, including Pattani, Nakhon Pathom, Nonthaburi and Buri Ram, joined the protest yesterday.
Public Health Ministry permanent secretary Dr Paijit Warachit said the medical personnel were not against patients being protected.
"They just hope they can do their job with peace of mind," he said.
Paijit also expressed confidence that mutual discussions would help the bill move on.
Meanwhile, many non-governmental organisations, including the Lawyers Council of Thailand, have come out to support the bill.