Police establish new clinic for drug addicts

JAKARTA (JP): City police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata inaugurated a new clinic for drug addicts in East Jakarta yesterday.

Nazatra Clinic, which is owned and managed by Jakarta Police, occupies a renovated three-story building located on the same site as the police-owned Pamardi Siwi Rehabilitation Center for drug addicts on Jl. Let. Jen. MT Haryono.

The clinic, which is open around-the-clock, is equipped with general medical facilities, including USG (ultrasonography), an X-ray machine, psychiatric clinic, laboratory and drug store.

In his speech, Hamami said Nazatra Clinic was established to cope with the significant increase in public demand for drug addicts to receive proper medical treatment.

"It is, I think, the first clinic in the city which was been especially dedicated to providing medical information and treatment to drug abusers," the two-star general said.

Hamami said that the clinic's establishment is also intended to inform people that police are not only qualified to handcuff drug users and dealers but also to help rehabilitate and save them.

"We're just getting started. We know we can't help all the victims, but at least we can start by helping a small number of them."

Hamami said drug users needed support because they could not solve their addiction problems on their own.

He said that the number of drug addicts in the city had risen significantly in line with the large-scale distribution of drugs here.

"I see that our country has started to become more than a transit point for some international drug syndicates."

He said the confiscation of 13 kilograms of first-grade heroin allegedly smuggled by dozens of foreigners in the past three months had proven his point.

Nazatra Clinic will give priority to the drug addicts being treated at the neighboring Pamardi Siwi center.

Lt. Col. TH. Tati Sugiarti, head of the new clinic, said she hoped that it could assist the patients of Pamardi Siwi deal with their physical addictions.

Tati said that 82 people were undergoing treatment at Pamardi Siwi Rehabilitation Center, which has a 112-patient capacity.

"Eighteen of the 82 people are women," she said. "All the patients are under 21 years of age and were brought here by their parents."

Patients are taught to be disciplined during their stay in the center, she said.

They are also provided with new information and skills which can help them forget about drugs and improve themselves, she said.

"They live by strict rules here. They sleep in the barracks, are not allowed to smoke or go outside of the center's gates. And they stay here for at least four months."

She said only a few former patients needed to come back for a second stint at the center.

Tati refused to disclose the admission fees for the new clinic but said that Pamardi Siwi patients had to pay monthly meal bills of Rp 100,000 (US$23) per person. (cst)