Fatimah chairing the OSC monthly report meeting to address drug and substance issues in Sarawak.
KUCHING (May 25): Plans are underway to set up a One Stop Centre for Addiction (OSCA) at seven selected and suitable health clinics across the state, said Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.
She said this is one of the action plans by the state’s One Stop Committee (OSC) to address drug and substance issues (MIDS) this year to improve access to drug addiction treatment as well as drug and substance abuse rehabilitation in Sarawak.
“The OSCA will be set up at high-risk districts; namely Lawas, Limbang, Subis, Betong, Bau, Bintulu and Sibu,” she informed when chairing the OSC MIDS monthly report meeting at Baitulmakmur Building here.
Currently, there are two OSCAs run by the State Health Department in Sarawak, namely at the Petra Jaya Health Clinic here and the Tudan Health Clinic in Miri.
The services provided at the centre include drug addiction and abuse interventions, alcohol addiction intervention, smoking cessation clinic and Medicated Assisted Therapy (MAT) clinic for opiate addiction among others.
Fatimah informed that in April this year, 12 individuals had come forward for treatment at OSCA, in Miri (7) and Kuching (5).
“The number of clients has increased by 33 per cent compared to March 2021 which registered nine individuals,” she said, noting that since January this year, 32 clients have sought treatment at the centres.
She also said last month saw 1,529 individuals seeking treatment for substance addition for alcohol and tobacco at Health Department facilities in Sarawak.
“A total of 5,562 individuals have sought treatment at these facilities since January this year,” she added.
Fatimah said one of the advantages of OSCA is that the centres are based at health clinics and as such, will encourage people who are seeking help for their addiction to come forward.
“As the OSCA is based at the health clinic, people will view this as a health issue and therefore, they won’t feel stigmatised compared to if they were to go to the Narcotic Addiction Rehabilitation Centre (Puspen) or other institutions,” she said.