Opinion: A royal intervention in the healthcare arena is a rebuke against Prayut
The announcement in the Royal Gazette that the Chulabhorn Royal Academy can ignore and bypass the Prayut governmentÂ’s policy to centralize the procurement of the Covid-19 vaccines is not only an embarrassment to the government, but also tantamount to a pseudo power-grab, at least within the healthcare realm.
At the moment, Thailand is ranked sixth in ASEAN in the vaccination rate, behind Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar. We have only fully vaccinated 1.4% of our population and there are 104 countries in the world ahead of us on this metric. At the current rate, some estimates claim that it would take us more than 7 years to get to the goal of 100 million doses administered. On top of this, there are questions over whether we would have enough vaccines at all and how much longer would the delivery be delayed. Making the matter worse is the inability of our leadership to communicate coherently and effectively which has further hampered peopleÂ’s confidence.
For now, we can be sure that the ruling elites have split and that move by HRH Princess Chulabhorn has highlighted the royal anxiety over the governmentÂ’s mishandling of the crisis. What this means in practice is that our government is no longer in control of its health care apparatus and there is a functioning, competing alternative health-care system led by HRH Princess Chulabhorn herself. If Prayut and Anutin do not step up their game quickly, it will be to no oneÂ’s surprise when a more powerful intervention beyond the healthcare arena finally takes place. And sadly, it will once again happen at the expense of Thai democratic development.
https://www.thaienquirer.com/27935/opinion-a-royal-intervention-in-the-h...