Dagupan Drug Rehab Center opens Feb. 26
ALL eyes will be in Dagupan when the Dagupan Treatment and Rehab Center (DTRC) located in Barangay Bonuan Binloc, will be opened on Feb. 26 this year.
The inauguration of the edifice will be led by Department of Health Secretary Elmer Punzalan, Secretary Antonio Villar Jr., chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr, and his wife, Fourth District Rep. Gina de De Venecia and Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez.
It was former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. who started the project on the six-hectare lot and its was continued by his wife, Congresswoman De Venecia. Since funding was insufficient, the DOH took over the project and the DDB contributed funds to help complete the project.
The treatment and rehab center being administered by DOH through R1MC, has been operational and is presently treating 40 male in-patients and a number of out-patients, some of whom are from Isabela, La Union and Tarlac.
Dr. Joseph Roland Mejia, chief of the Region 1 Medical Center, said drug dependents in Pangasinan needing rehabilitation were usually referred to a government drug rehab center or a rehab center run by a private foundation in Pampanga.
As drug treatment and rehab center, the facility has a complement of 144 staff composed of doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, among others, said Mejia.
Treatment of patients is six months and at the end of the period, he or she is assessed and if found ready to go back to the society as a normal person, is finally discharged, Mejia, added.
Treatment and rehabilitation of drug patients has its corresponding costs but if the patient is indigent, he or she can ask the help of social workers in the center to prepare the necessary documents to qualify for free treatment.
The center can accommodate up to 300 patients at one time and this can be expanded up to 500 patients.
Among the facilities in the DTRC are an administrative building, staff building, dormitory, basketball court, gymnasium and swimming pool. (Leonardo Micua)
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