NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A private hospital director accused of fondling factory workers' breasts during their annual company health examination denied all allegations Sunday.
The doctor, who is a director of a private hospital in Nakhon Ratchasima's Muang district, reported to Sung Noen police to acknowledge a charge of sexual harassment.
He denied all accusations.
Thanadet Srilamoon, one of three lawyers accompanying the director to the station, said his client insisted he had no intention of molesting the patients and he conducted himself in line with normal health checkups.
The director was also willing to make a settlement with the complainants.
The doctor appeared at the station Sunday after he postponed the date to answer the charge from last Monday, citing a busy schedule at the hospital.
The doctor was summoned by police after 11 female workers lodged a complaint with Sung Noen police, accusing him of sexually harassing them during the factory's annual physical health checkups on Nov 17.
Each patient was alone with the doctor in the examination room. They said the doctor unzipped their uniform tops and fondled their breasts. The check-ups were not supposed to include breast cancer screening.
Police had questioned all complainants, who work for the Siam Fukoku factory, which produces rubber parts for cars.
The accusers said doctors had not used their fingers to feel their breasts during previous annual health examinations, which did not cover breast cancer. They also said that only "good-looking" workers had their breasts caressed.
Pol Lt Col Trakarn Saksrikrom, an interrogator at Sungnoen station who oversees the case, said that police were unable to comment on the doctor's testimony as it could affect the investigation.
Investigators were compiling evidence to submit to prosecutors, he said.
A source said the doctor previously tried to negotiate with the victims to withdraw the complaint. The victims requested 50,000 baht each in compensation but the doctor disagreed as he considered the demands to be too high.
