BANGKOK, June 12, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Thailand's Medical Council reaffirmed on 
Thursday its decision to sanction three physicians over the treatment of 
former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra following his return from exile, 
after the health minister tried to veto the punishment.

Thaksin returned to the kingdom in August 2023 and was immediately sentenced 
to prison on graft and abuse of power charges dating back to his time in 
office.

But he was sent almost immediately to a private room in Bangkok's Police 
General Hospital for health reasons, and was later freed without ever 
spending a night in a cell.

The medical council, Thailand's regulatory body for the profession, suspended 
two doctors and issued a warning to a third last month over medical 
certificates issued for Thaksin. 

Health Minister Somsek Thepsutin of the ruling Pheu Thai party stepped in to 
overrule, but on Thursday the council voted to uphold the punishment.

Pheu Thai is close to Thaksin, whose daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra is the 
current prime minister.

Thaksin returned to Thailand after 15 years living overseas on the day Pheu 
Thai took office at the head of a coalition government, fuelling suspicions 
of a backroom deal to treat him leniently.

While Thaksin remains popular with his support base, he has long been 
disliked by Thailand's pro-royalist and military establishment.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to have a hearing on Friday as it investigates 
whether Thaksin served his sentence properly.

The former Manchester City owner, ousted as Thai PM in a coup in 2006, is 
also facing a separate royal defamation case expected to start next month.

The legal dramas come as his daughter's government wrestles with a border 
dispute with Cambodia and internal wrangles with fractious coalition 
partners.