Govt to build new drug rehab center

JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon build another rehabilitation center for drug addicts in Cibubur, East Jakarta, due to the big increase in patients over the past five years, an official said.

"The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has long planned to build another rehabilitation center, since the existing Fatmawati Hospital Rehabilitation Center (RSKO) has very limited capacity," City Health Service Agency chief Dedy Ruswendi said on Tuesday.

The City Administration has provided a 1.5-hectare plot for construction of the two-story hospital.

The hospital building, expected to be completed by December this year, would have room for 60 beds.

Dedy said construction of the new rehabilitation center, to cost about Rp 74 billion (US$7.4 million), would be financed by the Japan Bank International Corporation.

Drug patient numbers had increased by more than 400 percent in three years, from 1,799 in 1996 to 8,823 in 1999.

"The Fatmawati Rehabilitation Center can only provide 40 beds for drug patients. That's why the construction of a new rehabilitation center is a must," Dedy said. (01)