Public Health Minister Sopon Mekthon said earlier the ministry only has 1,200 civil servant vacancies available for them within the next two months, which is the deadline the nurses have given. If the government approves the 8,900 new jobs there will be no need to seek additional civil servant positions for nurses until 2021, officials said. Mr Wissanu said he sympathised with the Public Health Ministry because the issue is beset with legal complications that it is not to blame for. The government stands firm on the principle of not increasing the number but this is proving troublesome when applied to the Public Health Ministry, he said. For example, if the Public Health Ministry is granted all the available vacancies, this would be unfair to all the doctors and nurses working under the umbrella of the Education Ministry, among others, he added.

Source: Bangkok Post May 15, 2017 22:07 UTC