ILOILO CITY — Less than 10 percent of the nearly 30,000 persons who use drugs (PWUDs) or drug surrenderers in Western Visayas have received outpatient or community-based treatment services.
As of Feb. 5, the Department of Health (DOH) has recorded 36,863 drug surrenderers from the region’s five provinces and two highly-urbanized cities.
Of the statistics collected since the start of “Oplan Tokhang” in 2016, only 6.1 percent or 2,250 of the 10,796 PWUDs who were screened using the World Health Organization (WHO) alcohol, smoking, substance involvement screening test, have undergone treatment services, said John Richard Lapascua, DOH senior health program officer, on Monday.
Lapascua said Regulation No. 4 of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) provides concrete steps on how to treat PWUDs. He underscored that local government units, especially barangay anti-drug abuse councils (BADACs) play a significant role as the first step always involves community participation.
BADACs are at the forefront in conducting advocacy and in determining drug pushers and users in their community.
The screening to determine the level of substance abuse is done after the PWUD surrenders during the “Oplan Tokhang” of the Philippine National Police.
“Only drug users are screened because they have problems on addiction,” Lapascua said.
After the screening, those with low-level addiction are referred back to their community to undergo a one-month general intervention. They are given a complete package of social, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual activities for one month or one session per week.
Those with a mild level of abuse are returned to the BADAC for a four-month rehabilitation, with two sessions per week.
On the other hand, those with moderate level of abuse undergo a health facility-based patient rehabilitation for six months with one session per week. They are placed under the care of municipal/city health officers who have completed the intensive outpatient program training.
PWUDs with a severe level of abuse have to undergo two years of rehabilitation composed of six months in-patient rehabilitation and 18 months after care.
Western Visayas has two treatment and rehab centers, one at the DOH-run hospital in Pototan, Iloilo and one private-run but is a DOH-accredited facility — “Ang Dalangpan” — in Negros Occidental.
The 18-month after-care program that is managed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development also holds true for other levels of substance abuse.
Lapascua said that those with mild to severe substance abuse have to be monitored as the failure to follow the treatment algorithm may cause a relapse on the part of the PWUD.
He added that almost 100 percent of municipal and city health officers were trained screen drug surrenderers.
However, one challenge in ensuring that 100 percent of all surrenderers undergo the screening is access to the facility.
He added that some surrenderers could no longer be located while others are employed in areas far from the health facility or they don’t have money to travel.
DOH data revealed that in Aklan, 1,525 of their 1,975 PWUDs had been screened but only 815 or 41 percent of those screened have availed of treatment services.
In Antique, 865 or 50 percent of its 1,738 drug surrenderers had been screened and 280 have availed of treatment.
In Guimaras, 712 of the 747 surrenderers had been subjected to screening and 315 have undergone rehab.
Moreover, 48 percent or 3,681 of the 7,595 surrenderers in Iloilo province had undergone screening but as of last week, only 127 have availed of rehab services. In Iloilo City, 973 of its 3,381 surrenderers had been screened and 408 have availed of rehabilitation.
On the other hand, Negros Occidental has 11,868 surrenderers but only 419 had gone through screening and 135 have availed of treatment. In Bacolod City, of the 4,054 who surrendered, only 538 had been screened and 170 have proceeded with treatment.
In Capiz, 2,803 of its 5,505 surrenderers had been screened but none has been either treated or rehabilitated. (Perla Lena/PNA)
