Abusive drug rehab centre shut down
published : 24 Sep 2021 at 12:44
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Piyarat Chongcharoen
The Department of Medical Services has ordered the immediate closure of a drug rehabilitation centre at a Kanchanaburi temple following complaints of violent abuse and extortion of addicts there.
The drug rehab centre at Wat Tha Phu Rat Bamrung made headlines when a popular shaman and a lawyer took reporters there on Monday to expose the conditions, which they said included a starvation diet, torture, beatings and extortion of relatives.
There were more than 200 men crowded into a single room with only two bathrooms.
The abbot of the temple died 15 minutes before it was raided on Monday. Soldiers released the patients, who were taken to hospitals.
The two complainants alleged the rehab centre was run by a criminal network involving police and government officials.
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Vocabulary
- abbot (noun): the head monk at a temple - เจ้าอาวาส
- addict: someone who takes illegal or harmful drugs and cannot stop - ผู้ติดยาเสพย์ติด
- complainant: a person who makes a formal complaint in a court of law - ผู้ร้อง(ทุกข์),โจทก์,ผู้ฟ้องร้อง
- expose: to make something or someone publicly known because you believe something illegal or dishonest has happened - เปิดเผยออกมา
- extortion: the crime of trying to obtain something by force or threat - การขู่กรรโชก รีดไถ
- patients (noun): people who are receiving medical treatment - คนป่วย, คนไข้
- raid (noun): a short (surprise) attack on an enemy or group - การจู่โจม,การโจมตี, การบุกเข้า
- rehab: rehabilitation; the process of returning someone or something to a good or healthy condition, state or way of living - การทำให้กลับสู่สภาพเดิม, การทำให้กลับมาดีเหมือนเดิม
- shaman: someone who has the power to talk to spirits and cure illnesses - หมอผี, คนทรงเจ้า
- starvation: the state of suffering and death caused by having no food - การอดอาหาร
- torture: causing great physical or mental pain to someone intentionally - ทรมานให้เจ็บปวด
