THE TEMPLE OF AIDS
page 1 of 4
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of issue 76
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Midway through the nursing course at St Bartholomew's in London there
is the opportunity to go on a placement anywhere in the world. I wanted
to learn about how developing countries manage the Aids epidemic, so Barts
paid for me to spend a month in Bangkok, Thailand and at Wat Phrabahtnamphu,
a hospice 120 kms north of the city.
'Wat' is the Thai word for Buddhist temple. But these centres
are far more than places of worship. They also act as local education centres, providers of social welfare,
geriatric wards - and hospices. My time in a culture so different from
ours had a great impact on me.
A Buddhist monk and engineer, Dr Alongkot Dikkapanyo, founded Wat Phrabahtnamphu
in 1992. It is now well known in Thailand. Near the town of Lopburi, it
cares for about 70 patients seriously ill with Aids, in two central hospital
buildings. It also provides free accommodation and food for about 200 people with
HIV, in small houses built around the complex. It has the feel of a small
