Govt offers counselling, rehab for street dwellers with drug addiction

While the removal of street dwellers, commonly known as vagrants, is still a huge challenge for Government, the Health Ministry has moved to provide medical and psychological support to those seeking to overcome their drug addiction.
This intervention allows these individuals to access for free the necessary care, medication and therapeutic services not usually accessible to them. According to Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony, there are at least 10 clinics in the Georgetown area with which the Health Ministry collaborates to provide this service. He said the ultimate goal is to help the addicts transition back into society.
“So, for people who have a drug addiction (problem), we have at least 10 clinics in the city that are headed by Dr. Freeman. So, we can provide counselling, we can provide — if in some cases they need certain meds to help them to wean off their addiction — we can provide that; and we work very closely with the courts as well, so people who have (been) before the court, and if they have a drug problem, the courts would normally refer them to this clinic, and we’ll work with them to help them with their addiction,” he disclosed.
In cases of street dwellers battling mental illnesses, Dr Anthony has said assistance is also in place to ensure they have access to medical care and have their daily needs met.
He explained that the programme, being spearheaded with collaboration of the Human Services and Social Security Ministry, also has its challenges, since, under law, there are no provisions that allow Government to institutionalise these individuals.
“So I think that’s something that we have to work jointly with several other ministries. But one of the pushbacks that we’ve been getting is that some of the people don’t want to come into an institution. So that’s why, for example, the Ministry of Human Services would have been providing them with a safe space where they can go get a bath, get a meal; but some of them don’t want to come off the streets,” Dr Anthony explained.
“Many of these patients who are out there, they have been in our programmes, so they’re known to the doctors. But again, it’s (about) balancing their rights and institutionalising them. The new mental health law does not allow us to institutionalise people, unless it’s an acute episode, so we can only keep them for so long; but then we have to release them if they want to go out,” he added. (G1)