WORLD AIDS DAY
Prison to open doors to inmates' relatives
Convicts volunteer to care for patients
Aphaluck Bhatiasevi
Members of Bangkok's gay community appear in funcy dress in a parade on Silom road for the second time in less than a month. The group turned out in force two weeks ago to celebrate the Bangkok Gay Festival while yesterday's activity was part of a campaign against Aids coinciding with World Aids Day today. - Apich Lat Yao Prison in Bang Khen will open its doors this month to relatives and friends of terminally-ill Aids prisoners so that inmates can spend their last days with loved ones.
John Lertwitworapong, director of Lat Yao Prison's Central Hospital in Nonthaburi,
has started a hospice programme to mark World Aids Day today. It coincides with this
years' World Aids campaign, which focuses on eliminating stigma and discrimination
against HIV/Aids sufferers.
The programme would not be extravagant but at least would give people in their last days of life an opportunity to feel that they are not alone, said Dr John, who has been at the hospital for 26 years.
An empty ward has been turned into a 20-bed hospice centre with support from Shan Biswas, a medical doctor and former British prison service officer, who regularly visits Thailand.
Within the hospice confines, relatives would be able to visit ill patients regularly.
About 20 healthy prisoners have volunteered to take care of patients, acting as their counsellors, relatives and friends. They are trained to tell stories, give moral support and listen.
Dr John said inmates could take better care of patients than relatives, because they saw each other more often.
The hospice programme would do two things at once. ``Patients in critical condition will hopefully feel better so they are able to die in dignity. The second benefit is that inmates who help patients in their last stages of life are given a chance to do good deeds.''
Under prison rules, relatives cannot take patients back home nor can they care for them at the prison around the clock.
Finding volunteers was hard at first, Dr John said, because they get no money and many were afraid of picking up infections. However, prisoners had changed their minds after being treated at the hospital.
The hospital's eight doctors look after 250 in-patients a day and 200 out-patients a day, many from other prisons. Half the inmates visiting the hospital are HIV-positive.
It does all this on a tight budget. The hospital gets six million baht a year, but spends 10 million baht or more providing care.
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