State-run rehab centre ‘should open within next 6 months’
THE TRNC’s first state-run rehabilitation centre to help drug- and alcohol-dependents recover from the scourge of addiction is being set up at Çatalköy and should be open within six months.
The centre, described by Health Minister Filiz Besim as “a significant development” in the government’s efforts to combat the global problem’s impact in North Cyprus, will be established in a 12-room building belonging to the Forestry Department in the mountain foothills above the Olive Tree Hotel at Çatalköy.
The premises were formally signed over to the Health Ministry last week during a ceremony also attended by Prime Ministry Anti-Drug Commission head Hasan Karaokçu, Çatalköy Mayor Mehmet Hulusioğlu and state officials.
Agriculture and Natural Resources Minister Erkut Şahali handed over the keys to Ms Besim.
She told Cyprus Today this week that her ministry had been working on the rehabilitation centre project for some time. Now the building would be readied to provide round-the-clock help to recovering addicts — currently numbering some 132 — who have completed a detox programme in the capital’s state-run Barış Psychiatric Hospital.
Ms Besim said the residential centre would have room for up to 20 patients at a time, and that her ministry was working with its Turkish counterpart to get it up and running by July. However she declined to reveal the cost of setting up and running the centre.
“The building is in a good state. So we only have to make some essential changes to the site and re-organise the indoor area for rehab services,” she said.
“The necessary staff need to be employed to provide professional counselling, social empowerment and occupational therapy, plus various activities such as art and sport.”
Ms Besim underlined that a comprehensive state policy was needed to tackle what was a “multi-dimensional” and global issue now being seen to have an adverse effect in North Cyprus.
“We, as the Health Ministry, have upgraded the Barış Psychiatric Hospital, purchased machinery costing some two million TL to resume tests to identify drugs in people’s blood, and now we are happy to go ahead with the rehab centre.
“But [this issue] involves other ministries, like Interior and Education. There is a need for preventive and protective measures and programmes, such as introducing informative leaflets and giving education on addiction in schools. We are also collaborating with the prime minister’s Anti-Drug Commission.”
Mr Karaokçu welcomed the latest step in the campaign to combat addiction effectively in the TRNC, saying a state-run rehab centre had been lacking for years. Mr Hulusioğlu said his council stood ready to provide any support needed for the project.