Wat Pa Noen Sa-Ard, a Buddhist temple in Nakhon Ratchasima's Chok Chai district, has become known as a home for terminally ill patients who do not need aggressive medical treatment.
Monks help last-stage patients restore their spiritual peace through palliative care while also delivering Buddhist teachings so they can live the final part of their lives in peace.
The practice aligns with the World Health Organization's (WHO) mission to promote various approaches to improving patients' quality of life and relieving their physical and mental suffering.
It is also in line with Section 12 of the National Health Act, which supports terminal-stage patients' ethical right to refuse medical treatment.
Phra Ajarn Sanprach Panyakamo, president of this Buddhist hospice care centre, said that a "good death" is what they try to achieve and the main channel for this is "mindfulness."
Under Buddhist principles, being mindful, restrained, fearless, and persevering can help an individual alleviate the pain and restore their wellbeing.
More importantly, it is believed that people should take their last breath with mindfulness so that they can leave the world in peace.
He compared this to modern medicine, which also focuses on all dimensions of good health, from physical to mental, social and spiritual.
Wat Pa Noen Sa-Ard has been certified by the Department of Health as a public healthcare facility offering palliative care.
Monks and nuns, together with medical staff from the province and volunteers, are taking care of 50 patients, most of them poor, who reside at the facility free of charge.
Although the Department of Health has certified the temple as a public palliative care facility, it has rejected the centre's right to receive financial support of 10,000 baht per case per year from the Office of National Health Security (NHSO).
According to Phra Ajarn Sanprach, the centre has a fixed management cost of 500,000 baht per month, which is funded by donations.
He said the Health Department's strict requirements made it impossible for the centre to be eligible for financial help from the state.
"We are not medical staff, but rather monks who are helping people based on Buddhist practices," he said, urging that the NHSO have more flexibility in granting financial assistance.
Thanks to Wat Pa Noen Sa-Ard, the workload at one of the hospitals in the province has been lessened.
According to Dr Kriengsak Kruthakool, director of Chok Chai Hospital in Chok Chai district, the Health Ministry aims to reduce the medical treatment cost for last-stage patients on life-support machines through a policy of ensuring that every province has at least one public palliative care facility.
Dr Kriengsak recently told the media during a press trip to the province that the growing number of poor patients left unattended by their families at the hospital has been a huge burden, physically and financially.
But because Wat Pa Noen Sa-Ard helped to take these abandoned patients under its wing, it has helped the hospital a great deal.
According to the WHO, each year, an estimated 56.8 million people need palliative care, and the demand will grow as populations continue to age and diseases proliferate.