Buddhist Temple Opens Free Clinic

The Advocate reports: A Buddhist temple in central Thailand that serves as a refuge for people dying of AIDS opened a free clinic Friday to dispense antiretroviral drugs that slow the advance of the disease, the project's organizers said. Since 1992, thousands of Thais in the final stages of AIDS have traveled to Wat Phrabatnampo in Lopburi, 70 miles north of Bangkok, to live out their last days. The new project, the Wat Phrabatnampo-Center of Hope, will provide support and treatment to relatively healthy people with AIDS, according to a statement by the temple's Dramaraksa Foundation, the Lopburi provincial government, and the California-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Full story