Thai senator charged for false skincare specialist claim

The Medical Council of Thailand announced plans to charge Thai Senator Keskamol Pleansamai for falsely claiming to be a skin and beauty specialist without proper certification.

During a meeting yesterday, July 18, the council’s board concluded that the 46 year old Senator, Keskamol violated Section 32 of the Medical Professions Act by publicly describing herself as a skincare specialist despite lacking the necessary certification, according to a source familiar with the case.

The council’s Secretary-General, Ittaporn Kanacharoen, has been tasked with investigating Keskamol’s claims to determine if they constitute an ethical violation under council regulations. The board will review the matter on August 8.

In a Facebook post yesterday, Ittaporn highlighted that out of the 76,000 doctors in Thailand, 40,000 are certified specialists in various fields. He clarified that those with a medical degree are considered general practitioners and cannot claim any specialist distinction without additional certification from the relevant authorities.

Under Section 44 of the Medical Professions Act, doctors falsely claiming to be specialists in a particular field face up to one year in prison and a 10,000 baht fine. Additionally, the council will revoke their licences.

Keskamol holds a medical degree from Rangsit University, which is one of the few items in her CV that have been verified. Her other claims of multiple graduate degrees and a professorship have come under daily scrutiny by social media users.

A particularly well-documented claim involves a PhD from the California University Foreign Credentials Evaluation (FCE) Institution, which only issues certificates rather than degrees.

Keskamol, the owner of four beauty clinics with a significant online following, previously stated that when she ran for the Senate, she chose to compete in the Freelance Workers group instead of the Public Health group due to the latter featuring many well-known individuals.

Her lawyer, Decha Kittiwittayanan, responded to the accusations, stating that Keskamol is a doctoral candidate at Maejo University in Chiang Mai and never claimed to have graduated.

Maejo University confirmed that the Thai senator is registered in a three-year doctoral programme in the Faculty of Agricultural Production and is currently a second-year student.

Decha blamed the media for inaccurately reporting Keskamol’s profile.

Regarding claims that she misled the public into believing she was a student at the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), Decha clarified that his client was visiting the institute as part of her doctoral research programme, reported Bangkok Post.