The Gwangju and Jeonnam drug addict treatment protection agencies designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare have no users for the past five years due to a lack of professional manpower.
In particular, it is pointed out that comprehensive measures are urgently needed to reflect the reality of increasing drug use, such as treatment protection performance and total number of beds, as certain treatment protection institutions are concentrated nationwide.
According to data submitted and confirmed by Rep. In Jae-geun (Democratic Party of Korea, Dobong-gap) of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee on the 4th, 206 (62%) out of a total of 330 cases of treatment protection in 2017, 136 (51%) out of 267 cases in 2018, 126 (48%) out of 260 cases in 2019, and 165% of 280 cases in 2021.
As of this year, there are 21 treatment protection institutions nationwide, but more than 55% of all treatment protection targets are dedicated to one institution.
On the other hand, out of 21 institutions nationwide that have been designated as treatment protection institutions from 2017 to 2022, eight have not performed any treatment.
The Gwangju Drug Addiction Treatment and Protection Agency, designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, is Gwangju City Mental Hospital, which operates five designated beds every year. However, 2017 was the last time a drug addict was treated at this hospital.
At Gwangju City Psychiatric Hospital, three women in the business received outpatient treatment by methamphetamine administration at the request of the Suncheon Branch Office of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office in 2016.
In other words, the court and the prosecution office are mainly taking over the drug-related trial and handing it over to the concept of treatment consignment.
"In the past, patients who received probation at the request of the court and the prosecution office were handed over, but now there are no requests," a Gwangju City Hospital official said. "The number of beds is decreasing due to the mental health and welfare law facilities in 2017 and the number of doctors in charge is decreasing from 298 to 198 next year."
He also hinted, "If there is a psychiatrist dedicated to children and adolescents, it will be more systematic management, but now it is practically difficult to operate drug-related programs without users."
The same is true of Naju National Hospital. The Ministry of Health and Welfare designated 10 beds every year as designated beds for drug treatment protection, but the usage performance over the past five years has been zero. There are no related programs.
In response, an official at Naju National Hospital said, "There have been no applications for treatment in connection with the court and the prosecution in the past 10 years, and there are no users because they do not want treatment."
As such, there are no users in Gwangju and Jeollanam-do, but it is pointed out that the current regulations and guidelines of the project allow local residents to apply even when using treatment protection institutions in other cities and provinces.
As it is, the subject can be treated at the desired treatment protection agency regardless of the address.
Compared to 2017, the budget support for treatment protection agencies in 2021 increased from KRW 125.9 million to KRW 315.9 million, but the problem of bias is growing because intensive treatment by psychiatrists is essential to treat drug addicts and many human and material resources are difficult to handle.
In response, an official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, "While drug addiction treatment has higher difficulty and patient safety management problems than other mental diseases, medical institutions and medical staff are avoiding drug addiction treatment due to lack of additional budget support."
Rep. In Jae-geun said, "At a time when social problems caused by drugs are getting serious, it is urgent to come up with measures to improve treatment protection that does not reflect reality, including the issue of treatment protection by certain treatment protection agencies due to insufficient capacity."
On the other hand, despite the increasing trend of related social phenomena such as drug use crimes, treatment protection performance of treatment protection agencies has been decreasing since 2017, and the total number of beds in treatment protection agencies has increased from 330 in 2017 to 414 in 2019, and 292 in 2021 and 2022.
Writer: Yeyoung Jeon
(Picture from Unsplash)
Коментарі