Drug addiction therapy costly<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Therapy for drug addicts is a complicated process which takes a
\nlong time and costs a lot of money with no guarantee that the
\nrecovering addicts will be able to stay off drugs, experts say.<\/p>\n
A patient needs to undergo a rapid detoxification process,
\nwhich lasts between four and six hours, and then take pure opiate
\nantagonist pills for the whole year, according to Rinaldi Nizar
\nof the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Rinaldi told a seminar here last week said that a patient
\nwould have to pay up to Rp 5 million for the detoxification
\nprocess, while the pills, one of which should be taken each day,
\ncost Rp 22,000 each.<\/p>\n
Charles E. Damping, a psychiatrist from the University of
\nIndonesia (UI), added that weekly counseling was also required.<\/p>\n
\"The doctor's counseling fee ranges from Rp 35,000 to Rp
\n50,000 every week,\" he said.<\/p>\n
While the experts differed about the success rate of the
\ntherapy, they all agreed that there is a high dropout rate from
\nthe therapy process.<\/p>\n
Sunarno of the Graha Medika hospital in West Jakarta said that
\n70 percent of drug addicts quit the therapy before the process is
\ncompleted.<\/p>\n
Charles estimated that half of his patients completed the
\nentire therapy process.<\/p>\n
Jesse A. Montja, head of the antidrug working group at the
\nnational education ministry, said that no comprehensive studies
\nhad been conducted in Indonesia on the effectiveness of drug
\ntherapy, but nearly all rehabilitation centers had problems with
\nthe dropout rate.<\/p>\n
\"Relapse is a major problem in all rehabilitation centers in
\nIndonesia,\" he explained.<\/p>\n
Charles said that whether a patient would complete the therapy
\ndepended on his environment. Therefore, the family had an
\nimportant role to play in controlling and motivating recovering
\naddicts.<\/p>\n
\"The fact that is quite easy to get drugs here also plays a
\nmajor (negative) role in the success of therapy,\" he said.<\/p>\n
While there is no accurate data about drug addiction in the
\ncountry, drug activist Henry Yosodiningrat estimated that the
\nnumber could reach four million people.<\/p>\n
Most of them are young people, including students, in urban
\nareas.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/drug-addiction-therapy-costly-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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