By Marilyn King
FREETOWN, Nov. 10 (SALONE TIMES) – The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) and the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital(SLPTH) in partnership with ECOWAS, on Monday 8th November 2021 held a training of Drug Demand Reduction and Health Care professionals through the Universal Treatment Curriculum/ Colombo Plan, at the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital Kissy, Freetown.
Speaking at the training, the Acting General Hospital Care Manager Dr Jusu Mattia said he is very happy for the training.
He furthered that most of their patients at the Psychiatric Hospital are taken more than two drugs.
He said the statistics will tell that more women use substances than Men, He maintained that most of their patients that came to the Psychiatric Hospital are people who are addicted to drugs.
He thanked the government for their willingness towards them at the psychiatric Hospital. He noted that Sierra Leone is given the opportunity to benefit from the training.
The Principal Program Officer, Drug Control and Prevention of ECOWAS Commission, Daniel Amankwaah, said they are trying to train West African member states about drug and how to deal with it.
He continued that they want to cover the country so that at least in each member states there are people who can do what they called ‘Evidence Base Treatment Rehabilitation’.
He said to the participants at the training, that they are going to see their faces throughout the program, because they need to graduate, and the training has international certificates at the end of the training.
He concluded that at the end of the day they are going to have care trained professionals in Sierra Leone that will take the treatment and care of people who have substances use in Sierra Leone.
In His Keynote address, The Executive Director of NDLEA, Abdul Sheku Kargbo said the stark reality is that there is a growing problem of substances abuse and consumption in the country, He furthered that despite the best efforts of government, this has led to health, economic and social problems. He said it is undermining the peace, safety and stability of our neighborhoods, our Families, and our society, statistics from this hospital about individuals with drug related psychosis attests to the fact. He said to the participants that 25 of them are the lucky ones, and advised them to please take advantage of the opportunity.
He also said the training is to build capacity of drug demand reduction professionals in drug treatment and care for people with drug use disorders and to enhance the operation of the treatment and rehabilitation centers.
He said the expected out comes are, fifty-three continuous education hours on the UTC 1 and 2 courses, updated knowledge in substance uses disorders(SUD), enhance skills relating to SUD treatment, increased drug treatment professional working force in Sierra Leone, improve service delivery for people with substance use disorders in Sierra Leone.
In his conclusion, he said this is the first time to have drug rehabilitation center, and they are having two wards, one for the Male and the other one for the Female. Handing over of the New Rehabilitation Centre climaxed the occasion.
