The Wachet Jivitadana Sangha Hospital
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wachet Jivitadana Sangha Hospital | |
|---|---|
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| Geography | |
| Location | Wachet, Sagaing Hills, Sagaing, Upper Myanmar, Myanmar |
| Organisation | |
| Funding | Non-profit hospital |
| Type | General |
| Religious affiliation | Monastic |
| Affiliated university | Kyaswa Gyuang Monastery |
| Services | |
| Beds | 50 |
| History | |
| Opened | 20 October 1984 |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in Myanmar |
The Wachet Jivitadana Sangha Hospital (Burmese: ဝါးချက်ဇီဝိတဒါနသံဃာ့ဆေးရုံ) is a monastic hospital located in Wachet, Myanmar. It was founded on 20 October 1984 by Sayadaw U Lakkhana (also known as Badandha Lakkhana Sayadaw), an abbot of the Kyaswa Gyaug Monastery in Sagaing, using donations from monks, nuns, and others in the village of Wachet.
The hospital was established as a charitable institution to provide free medical treatment to monks and nuns. After 19 years, a committee of monks from Kyaswa Monastery decided to modernize the small facility. Since then, it has been significantly upgraded and expanded with local, national, and foreign aid. When first opened, it was a two-story clinic with four rooms. Today, it is a four-story, 50-bed facility[1] that provides low-cost health services to the general public as well as to monks and nuns. The hospital provides both Western medicine and traditional medicine, including acupuncture.
Wachet is a village in the Sagaing region of Upper Myanmar, along the Ayeyarwady River. The hospital is located north of the Kyaswa Monastery, east of the Sagaing Hills, and west of the Ayeyarwady River.
Kyaswa Monastery and Sayadaw U Lakkhana
The Kyaswa Monastery was founded in the 14th century and is located in Wachet.[2] Sayadaw U Lakkhana, the founder of Wachet Jivitadana Sangha Hospital, was the abbot of the monastery when the hospital was founded in 1984, and was known both in Myanmar and abroad as a meditation teacher and spiritual leader. He traveled extensively to lead Satipatthana meditation retreats, including in Australia, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, and the United States.[1]
In 1988, the Myanmar government awarded him the title of Agga Maha Kammathanacarriya, its highest honor for meditation instruction. The resulting publicity helped him garner support for community projects. In addition to founding Wachet Jivitadana Sangha Hospital, Sayadaw U Lakkhana and the Kyaswa Monastery opened a primary school in Wachet, provided grants for students, and delivered humanitarian relief to civilians after Cyclone Nargis in 2008.[2] Sayadaw U Lakkhana died in 2014.[3]
Facilities and services
The hospital has 50 beds, but often accommodates up to 200 patients.
In 2014, according to a hospital pamphlet, the average number of medical outpatients per month was 131. The average numbers of dental, ENT, and dermatological cases were 341, 59, and 34 per month, respectively. An average of 322 patients per month received acupuncture, and an average of 284 were treated with other forms of traditional medicine.
There are about 50 permanent staff members, including one doctor, five nurses, nine paramedics, and five administrators. The hospital has three operating theatres,[4] one laser treatment room in the outpatient department, and five dental chairs. Additional facilities include a laboratory, a radiology department, and a traditional medicine and acupuncture unit. Four air conditioned rooms with attached bathrooms, as well as five beds and bathrooms in the main hall, are reserved for VIP patients.
The hospital provides a variety of health services throughout the week, but certain procedures that must be performed by specialists are only available during certain days and times.[4] Physicians, surgeons, and dental surgeons from Mandalay are available Sunday mornings; the dental surgeons are also available on Saturdays. An acupuncture team from Mandalay provides services on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Eye specialists and ear, nose, and throat (ENT) teams from Mandalay come on Thursdays.
For billing purposes, the hospital divides patients into three categories. Those in the first category, including monks, nuns, and yogis, receive treatment free of charge. Those in the second category—low-income or otherwise disadvantaged patients—are responsible for a small portion of their treatment costs. All other patients are responsible for the total cost of their treatment, or most of it.
