Despite there being thousands of young people wandering the streets of Guayaquil and other cantons of the country, and families desperate to recover their children who have been lost to drugs, in Zone 8 there are four specialized treatment centers for people with problematic drug use. alcohol and other drugs, called Cetad.
These centers currently serve half their capacity and not because of a question of capacity, but because, strangely enough, patients do not arrive.
Luis Enrique Guerrero, director of Cetad Libertadores, clarifies that young people must go voluntarily or they will not be received.
“We cannot admit a consumer who is taken by force by his parents or his wife, it does not work that way because we do not have a prison, nor an electric fence to keep them locked up,” the official indicates.
In addition, he says, drug use is a disease, not a crime, therefore, if there is no will, they would be committing a kidnapping and they could report it.
The Cetad Libertadores is in Los Ceibos and has the capacity to serve 31 minors, but currently there are only 15, who have an itinerary from 06:00 to 21:00.
They carry out sports activities, talks, occupational and psychological therapies. They are busy all the time in activities and therapies that prepare them for life outside the center.
Guerrero assures that the treatment is free, that after detoxification (the withdrawal syndrome lasts about ten days), which can be done in a hospital or at home, they must go voluntarily to the centers and can be there between six and nine months, then the treatment has follow-up appointments every fifteen days.
“Some patients from the Cetad Libertadores are finishing school because an agreement was made with the Ministry of Education, others have learned to read and write with us,” says Guerrero.
At the national level, there are twelve centers with this modality, among which there are a total of 473 beds. Approximately 1,000 people can be served annually.
The MSP ensures that in the Zonal Coordination 8, between 2019 and 2021, care services have been provided to 7,805 people with drug use and consumption problems in the different treatments (basic outpatient, intensive and residential), which once finish their treatment, they continue to come for follow-up in the health units.
Guerrero indicates that of those who complete treatment, 35% do not use again and the rest do, but to a lesser extent.
How to access treatment?
The patient who wishes to enter must first go to a health center or a hospital. If it is in a hospital, the mental health team provides the necessary care, including detoxification, and informs the patient of the possibility of entering Cetad free of charge and voluntarily.
Guerrero explains that in health centers, psychologists make a diagnosis and if the patient requires hospitalization, they are referred to a center. In Zone 8 there are four centers for men (three for adults and one for minors) and in Quito there is one for women.
At the moment, in Zone 8 there is the capacity to receive 23 adolescents and a similar number of adults in the specialized centers for alcohol and drugs.
If the capacity of the MSP is exceeded, this State portfolio can contract the external services of a private rehabilitation center. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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