The Zanzibar Ministry of Health has received the support of a machine to facilitate the provision of methadone treatment for drug addicts from the United States Government through Amref Health Africa Tanzania worth eighty four million shillings.
Receiving the aid, Minister of Health Zanzibar Nassor Ahmed Mazrui has said that the aid will help ease the access to services for drug addicts when they arrive to get methadone services at the Kidongochekundu center.
He has informed that the installation of a methadone drug testing machine will enable to reduce various challenges including the long time to serve addicts, the use of keeping records in paper, the heavy burden of service providers as well as dispensing drugs by estimation.
Minister Mazrui has asked the staff at the center to take care of the machine with the aim of serving the addicts reliably and in a short time, and assured them that the Government through the Ministry of Health will make every effort to ensure that after they finish receiving methadone treatment, they engage in various jobs to provide them with income .
In addition, he thanked the Amref Health Africa Tanzania Organization and the CDC for their help in various ways in the health sector, especially in the whole issue of AIDS, fever, tuberculosis and leprosy and asked them to continue their help in Zanzibar.
On his part, the representative from CDC Dr. Nyagonde Nyagonde has said that Tanzania has been able to a great extent in serving drug addicts and various countries have been coming to learn how to serve those addicts.
He has informed the people of the program to distribute these services in different areas in Tanzania in order to be able to access these services easily and nearby and to ask the members of the community to remove the stigma of those addicts so that the problem cannot continue.
The Director of Amref health Africa Tanzania Dr. Florence Temu has said that since 2015 they have been able to reach about 1596 addicts connected to the service and a total of 840 addicts continue to receive methadone service every day.
He has informed that 82 income addicts have died and others have fled due to various reasons and said that the machine will facilitate access to services with great ease.
On his part, Hashim Ali Haji, who was addicted to drugs, said that the coming of the machine will make it easier for the staff at the station to provide services easily and keep records.
In addition, he has asked addicts not to mix drugs when they are receiving care, which will cause them to not recover and lead to various effects on their lives and health.
