Continue to expand the provision of multi-day Methadone to patients

Make it easy for patients

From July 2022, Nghe An will begin a pilot program to provide multi-day Methadone to patients being treated for opioid addiction at treatment facilities. Doctor Tran Manh Cuong, in charge of the Methadone treatment facility of the Provincial Center for Disease Control. said: In Vietnam, Methadone treatment for opioid addiction has been implemented since 2008. In Nghe An, the Methadone treatment program was introduced in 2012; to date, 1,162 patients have participated in treatment at 12 treatment facilities and 20 satellite facilities dispensing the drug. The effectiveness of the Methadone treatment program is very large. However, this program is still not comprehensive when requiring patients to be present at the treatment facility every day to take medication.

To help patients save time and money, and facilitate their work, in April 2021, the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, Ministry of Health, implemented a pilot project to provide multi-day supplies of Methadone for patients with opioid addiction to use at home. The first 3 localities to implement the program are Lai Chau, Dien Bien and Hai Phong. By 2022, the Ministry of Health will expand the pilot program to 3 other localities, including Nghe An province.

Implementing the program, on June 23, 2022, Nghe An issued Plan 417/KH-UBND of Nghe An province to pilot the provision of multi-day Methadone for patients undergoing treatment for opioid addiction in Nghe An province in 2022. Accordingly, Nghe An has implemented the provision of multi-day Methadone at 12 Methadone treatment facilities in the province, including 11 facilities under the Department of Health and 01 facility under the management of the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs. In 2022, these 12 facilities have provided Methadone to 185 patients (as of January 2023).

During the treatment, all patients complied with the treatment and medication storage regulations; no drugs were lost, traded or exchanged. The monitoring of patients' compliance with medication use regulations at home by medical staff and treatment facilities was well implemented; ensuring the safety of patients and their families when being given Methadone for many days.

It must be said that the pilot program of providing methadone for many days to patients has met the expectations and created favorable conditions for patients. Mr. NVA, 35 years old (in Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh city, a patient being treated at the methadone facility of the provincial Center for Disease Control) shared: “The multi-day distribution of methadone has helped us save time and travel expenses, making it easier to do business. In addition, the program also helps us reduce the inferiority complex of an addict, creating motivation to strive for improvement.”

Providing Methadone for many days not only brings joy to patients but also to medical staff. Doctor Pham Ngoc Duc - in charge of the Methadone facility of Que Phong District Medical Center, said: Providing Methadone for many days, the workload of medical staff at the treatment facility is greater, and it is more difficult to control and monitor patients. However, we are happy to see the effectiveness of the program when patients no longer abandon treatment, love life more and do not return to drugs. For medical staff, there is no greater joy than when the health of patients is improved and guaranteed.

Methadone is a substance in the Opioids group, used as a substitute for drugs, especially heroin in the management program of drug addicts. For addicts, taking Methadone solution will reduce drug cravings, improve health, improve security, social order, family economic development, and restore physical and mental health.

Expand and improve the quality of treatment

In order to create more favorable conditions for patients to access and improve the quality of Methadone treatment services for opiate addiction, contributing to reducing HIV infection, improving health and quality of life, on September 18, 2023, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 684/KH-UBND to deploy multi-day provision of Methadone for patients with opiate addiction treatment in the province, period 2023-2024.

Accordingly, in 2023-2024, Nghe An will continue to maintain the implementation of multi-day Methadone dispensing at 12 Methadone treatment facilities deployed in 2022, including 11 facilities under the Department of Health, 1 facility under the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs; expand the implementation of multi-day Methadone dispensing to 18 drug dispensing facilities in the whole province (except for 2 Methadone dispensing facilities at Nghia Dan and Nghi Loc District Medical Centers that currently have no patients for treatment, the implementation will depend on the actual situation).

Methadone is guaranteed from the province's Methadone supply, which has been purchased from the local budget. Supplies for the program such as medicine bottles, medicine bags, and current medicine tracking numbers are guaranteed from the Global Fund Project's funding source... The number of people expected to receive Methadone for many days in 2023 is 595 people; in 2024 it is 1,035 people.

Nghe An Provincial People's Committee clearly assigned responsibilities and requested relevant departments, branches, localities and units to strengthen forms of monitoring the use of Methadone by patients through various channels such as directly and indirectly during the process of patients bringing the drug home to use; strictly handle violations during the process of distributing Methadone for many days.

Dr. Chu Trong Trang - Director of the Provincial Center for Disease Control, said: The Provincial Center for Disease Control was assigned as the permanent unit, acting as the focal point for implementing the multi-day distribution of Methadone. Immediately after receiving the plan from the Provincial People's Committee, the center immediately sent an official dispatch to the medical centers of districts, towns and Vinh city, and the voluntary drug rehabilitation facilities of the province to review, develop plans and implement the multi-day distribution of drugs for patients when conditions are met according to the instructions of the Ministry of Health. After nearly 1 month of implementation, up to now, 112 patients have continued to be provided with Methadone for many days, currently waiting for supplies from the Central Government to expand the number of patients.

At this time, when continuing to get long-term medication, all patients participating in the program expressed their gratitude for receiving the attention and facilitation of the Ministry of Health and the province. Mr. LTK (Dong Van commune, Que Phong district) expressed: I am very grateful to the State for paying attention and creating conditions to help us receive Methadone treatment and long-term medication. Life and work are better when we do not have to go get medication every day./.