KHON KAEN — A teacher was investigated Monday for allegedly prescribing urine-infused water to her students under the belief it would cure ailments.
Khon Kaen school district director Sanong Sudsaard said on Monday that a teacher at Chot Nong Kae School, whose name has been withheld, was summoned to testify over a Facebook comment in an urophagia group. In the comment, the teacher claimed to have given her pupils piddle-infused water to drink as a cure for indigestion.
“I always bring a mixture of urine and herbs to school. When my students become sick, I give them the mixture instead of medicine,” reads the now-deleted comment. “They usually come with stomach aches or fever. But once they’ve taken my magic formula, they feel better within half an hour.”
“I’ve tried it on almost 30 students, and it worked on everyone,” the comment continued.
The investigation is ongoing, during which the teacher is allowed to continue teaching. The school has not taken action against the teacher, though she has been instructed to stop giving the mixture to students.
Sanong said the teacher denied the veracity of her Facebook comment during the investigation, in which students and child protection officers have also participated. She claimed that she just wanted to boast in the group and revealed that the “magic formula” is in fact a mixture of herbal extracts such as pandan and yanang leaves.
The teacher is said to be inspired by Buddhist teachings.
“She is a dhamma practitioner who has studied herbs and Buddhist scriptures,” Sanong said. “She claimed that she got the idea from sacred texts, which mention the use of urine in curing diseases.”
Meanwhile, health officials warned against the consumption of bodily waste, which is currently a trend among folk medicine practitioners.
The Director-General of the Department of Medical Services, Somsak Akkslip, says the consumption of urine – which contains extraneous nutrients such as urea and sodium chloride – can lead to higher risks of high blood pressure, infection, and even cardiac arrest.
