MoPH Fails to Take Volunteer Addicts under Treatment

Although dozens of drug addicts in Kabul seek treatment voluntarily, but Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) does not have the capacity to take them under treatment.

Hundreds of drug addicts including men, women and even children gather under a bridge in Kabul to buy and use drugs. The area which called Pol-e Sokhta smells very bad a woman who is carrying a child with a school bag on her should said,” the government should take us under treatment, our live is very bad here, we are facing difficulties everyday”.

But a senior official in Ministry of Public Health said due to the lack of beds and budgets we cannot take a large number of addicts under treatment.

“We have a shortage of budget, we need a budget of $10 million annually, but we have only $3 million for a year, we need a hospital with one thousand beds,” Najia Tariq deputy minister of health care services at MoPH said.

Drug traffickers easily sales and distributes drug to addicts in the daylight in the capital Kabul, so a lot of drug addicts havae turned to drugs again after being treated for two or even five times, because they can access drugs easily.

Ministry of Interior took about 200 addicts to hospitals in Kabul for treatment and dispersed others today.

Baz Mohammad Ahmadi the current Deputy Minister of Interior for Counter-Narcotics said,” drug prevention is not easy, it is not easy to fight against this phenomenon, it is a very complex job which needs a long time”.

Many addicts enthusiastically go to the hospital for treatment, but others scattered to accumulate later in another corners of the city.

Reported by: Ahmad Farshad Saleh