Nakhon Ratchasima: A temple in Chok Chai district has set an example of how people diagnosed with end-stage illnesses can still do good deeds before they pass away.
The temple assists such people in learning to cope with realising their death is imminent, focusing on living the last stage of their lives peacefully and sharing their experiences with others.
"Even when diagnosed with an incurable disease, not every patient has to be bed-bound instantly," Dr Suphol Tatiyanuntaporn, provincial chief health officer of Nakhon Ratchasima, said.
"But most people tend to perceive such a diagnosis literally as a death sentence, which can affect their mental health, make them suddenly lose physical strength and enter the final stage of life prematurely," he said.
Phra Achan Saenprat Panyakhamo, abbot of Pa Non Sa-at temple in Chok Chai district, which has been offering care to patients with an end-stage illness, believes in the power of giving. He says these patients, too, could still impart their experience to others to learn from. The experience of giving can also be good for the patients themselves.
The temple has been used as a model for promoting the importance of helping patients in their final stage of life overcome the tremendous mental impact of their disease, said Suttipong Vasusopapol, deputy secretary-general of the National Health Commission Office (NHCO).
More temples elsewhere are urged to adopt this model for end-of-life patient care in which the practice of Buddhist dhamma has been incorporated into the physical and mental care of patients until the last moment of life, he said.
The temple offers long-term care, palliative care and end-of-life care to a number of patients, which helps put them at ease about what is to follow. "This is a good example for the rest of society to become a really civilised society in which people are willing to take care of one another," he said.
Saengdao Ari, chief of Nakhon Ratchasima's Social Development and Human Security Office, said her office has been working together with Wat Pa Non Sa-at, and they share the same goal of getting patients in their final stage of life proper care.
Not all such patients get the care they need due to the limited capacity of government-run healthcare facilities, she said. This is where temples can step in.
"Our wish now is that more of such patient care service is made available elsewhere, too," she said.
In Nakhon Ratchasima alone, more than 190,000 of such patients are said to be waiting to be admitted to a similar facility which offers care to patients with end-stage disease, she said.