Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - June 21, 2001
Anjira Assavanonda
A seminar organised by the Centre for Aids Rights (CAR) was told a survey of eight temples in Bangkok and four other provinces had found they all required any person wishing to enter the monkhood to present an HIV-free certificate. Infected people were barred.
The seminar agreed the best solution was to educate respected senior monks in each region, to correct their understandings about the disease and change their attitudes.
Supatra Nakhapiew, CAR director, said many infected people had consulted her centre about the problem. Some explained they just wanted to be ordained to earn some merit and fulfil the wishes of their parents, but others wanted to rest their minds in the tranquility of temples and Buddhist dharma.
These people were disappointed that their faith had been denied.
According to the survey, abbots and senior monks agreed Aids was a disease which obstructed the practice of dharma by a monk. They believed disease would tarnish the monkhood's image and scare away merit-makers, and that HIV transmission was likely because monks live together and share things like glasses and razors.
Manop Polpairin, of the Religious Affairs Department, said the decision to bar HIV-positive people from the monkhood was a consensus from a meeting of senior regional monks two years ago.
No official regulation had been issued by the Sangha Council. It was up to each temple to make a decision on a case-by-case basis.
Dr Sanchai Chasombat, director of the Aids Division, Public Health Ministry, said HIV-infected people not showing abnormal signs should not have any trouble entering a temple.
The monkhood should be an alternative for HIV-positive people, where they could rest their minds and strengthen their spirits. He suggested an approach be made to the monks, offering to educate them about the disease.
"It will be hard if we try to change the monkhood without changing their attitudes first," Dr Sanchai said.
Dr Vitoon Ungpraphan, adviser to the Medical Council, said he was surprised to hear of the problem. The requirement for an HIV-free certificate was a violation of human rights, and also expensive since each blood test cost around 5,000 baht.
There was actually a slim chance of HIV transmission in the temples.
HIV/Aids could not be transmitted through drinking from the same glass. The use of razors to shave heads should not be a problem, since a razor was a monk's personal belonging and the blade disposable.
The practice of dharma and meditation would probably improve the physical and mental condition of patients. "It's time for the religious realm to adjust their knowledge to catch up with the social changes," he said.
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