A number of public and private rehabilitation services for drug and alcohol addicts have been established in Qatar over the last few years.
Although Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) remains the centre of these services, there has been a gradual and steady increase in the number of addicts seeking help due to more awareness.
“In the past two years, there have been attempts to provide facilities to addicts, but they are not fully integrated prorgrammes,” Dr Muhammed Abdul Alaim Ibrahim, senior mental health consultant at HMC, said.
At the Social Rehabilitation Centre (SRC), there are ongoing therapy programmes for individuals as well as families. The treatment at SRC for addicts includes counseling and physical exercises, along with visits to beaches and other public places, which may inject some form of motivation in patients.
However, as the centre does not provide medication, for the ‘period of detoxification’, addicts are sent to HMC.
The SRC deals with seven to twelve patients (drug addicts) at any given time. But with the majority of in-house patients being drug addicts, the centre finds it difficult to provide services to people suffering from other mental illnesses, Dr Sharifa Noman Al Emadi, Director of Therapy at SRC said.
“At the centre, we also need to help people with personality disorders, and anti-social behavior. Then, there is the problem of bullying as well as suicide attempts and self-harm. These are some of the issues which also need our attention,” Dr Al Emadi said, adding there are very few female Qatari counselors here.
The social affairs department at the Ministry of Labour, on the other hand, takes care of families facing drug and alcohol abuse-related problems.
‘The Guide Me Centre’, affiliated to Eid bin Mohammad Al Thani Charity Trust, is also successfully rehabilitating addicts. According to a report, as many as 60 chronic drug addicts were rehabilitated by the centre this year.
Most of these services, meanwhile, are expected to be streamlined after the establishment of Qatar’s new state-of-the-art rehab facility for alcohol and drug addicts, which officials say may take one to two years. “We are really looking forward to the new rehab centre because it will ease some of our pressure,” Dr Al Emadi, said.
The new centre is expected to fully integrate families of addicts, and treatment is going to be free for anyone residing in Qatar, Dr Ibrahim said.
Currently, an international advisory committee is working on the programmes of the new centre.
The Peninsula
