The Department of Health (DOH) – MIMAROPA (Oriental/Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) together with the city government of Calapan City has successfully rehabilitated 39 drug surrenderees enrolled in a one-month out-patient rehabilitation program in the province of Oriental Mindoro.
“Initially, this is a success, because all of the 39 enrollees were tested negative for illegal drugs during a recent drug test conducted by health officials. We will still continue to monitor and assess these individuals even after they graduated to the program to prevent them from having a relapse,” Regional Eduardo C. Janairo stated during a visit to the Bishop’s Palace in Oriental Mindoro which acts as training the center for the surrenderees.
During the one-month drug rehabilitation program, patients will be provided with behavioral counseling, medication, evaluation and treatment for occurring mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, yoga exercises and detoxification with the use of “Ayurveda”, the ancient holistic healing system from India which includes a complete detoxification called Pancha Karma designed to treat the core roots of disease and illness and restore optimal health.
According to Janairo, the program uses telemedicine to enable drug surrenderees to communicate with psychologist and psychiatrist in Metro Manila. “This is also to augment the lack of psychologist in the province. Through this technology, consultations and one-on-one communication can be conducted remotely”.
Out of the 39 drug surrenderees, there were two minor aged 14 and 16.
As of November 30, 2016, a total of 1, 270 drug surrenderees were recorded by the city government of Calapan City.
There are now a total of 19,663 drug surrenderees in MIMAROPA. Of these, 17,434 were reported as users and 1,519 are pusher and 640 are at the same time user and pusher.r
DOH-MIMAROPA SMART teams already assessed a total of 2,207 and counselled 1,283 surrenderees. A total of 1,258 drug test were conducted.
