(ĐN)- According to Dong Nai provincial HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Centre and Bien Hoa General Hospital, their methadone centres have received a large number of applications for treatment since it opened last year.
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(ĐN)- According to Dong Nai provincial HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Centre and Bien Hoa General Hospital, their methadone centres have received a large number of applications for treatment since it opened last year.
After around one year of methadone maintenance treatment in the centres, many drug addicts using the therapy have seen improved physical and mental health; many of them found jobs and have settled down.
When attending the centres, drug users are provided with an initial intake assessment which includes health check-ups and psycho-social evaluations, and then free methadone doses that suit their needs together with medical advice during the treatment process.
To date, the locality has opened two methadone treatment centres treating 634 drug users, 153 of them have reached the stabilisation phase and improved mental health.
The methadone treatment is a cost-effective method that costs nine times less than traditional treatments in rehab centres. It not only allows addicted people to stop using drugs, reduces their risk of HIV transmission and improves their quality of life, but also is associated with a reduction in criminal activity.
This sort of therapy has also proved economical. It showed that a person with a heroin dependence wastes VND600,000-1 million per day for buying drugs.
The province plans to open more two centres in Long Thanh district and Long Khanh town by 2015.
Reported by N.T
