In line with the government’s anti-drugs campaign, the Department of Health, together with Senator Cynthia Villar, inaugurated a drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation center in Barangay Ilaya, Las Pinas City.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that the establishment of the facility was in response to President Duterte’s call to “prioritize and synergize efforts to stop drug addiction.”
The facility has a two-story building for female occupants with 86-patient capacity and a three-story building for male occupants with 158-patient capacity.
“The Rehabilitation Center, with an area of 2,735 square meters and target bed capacity of 300, will address the high influx of surrenderers and help in the process of rehabilitation and reintegration through the effective alignment of services and programs at the community level,” Duque said.
“Through this facility, we can now have a place in Las Piñas and neighboring cities to transform drug-dependent individuals into fully responsible and productive members of our society,” said Villar.
The inauguration was also attended by Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Undersecretary Ricojudge Janvier Echiverri.
Duque said that the facility will help in addressing the “huge gap between drug dependents and treatment facilities.”
“According to the Dangerous Drug Board (DDB), there are about 1.3 million drug dependents in the country. While 600,000 have surrendered to authorities, the total number of beds in government and private drug rehabilitation centers is only 3,216,” he said.
Duque said that the other government agencies, particularly the DILG and the DDB, have a shared responsibility “in creating better communities where drug users are treated and rehabilitated.”
“It is important that we sustain the momentum we have established. The DoH is working closely with government agencies and other stakeholders to strengthen our substance abuse prevention and treatment programs to ensure that we leave no one behind,” he added. (Analou de Vera)
