Vietnam Health Ministry Introduces New Drug Rehab Medicine

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria held a ceremony in the northern province of Dien Bien on May 10 to introduce a new medicine for drug rehabilitation in the Southeast Asian nation, state media reported. The medicine, named Buprenorphineis, is included in the psychotropic group, helps drug addicts ease the dependence on heroin and methamphetamine. Buprenorphineis has the same functions as Methadone. The ministry will pilot the use of the medicine in seven provinces with around 1,000 drug addicts, with a priority in localities with high numbers of drug addicts and in the mountainous areas. The ministry will then review the efficiency of the medicine for a nation-scale use. According to the Ministry of Public Security, as of end-2018, Vietnam had 220,000 drug addicts. Dien Bien is among the localities with the highest figures of drug addicts in Vietnam, with over 9,000 people. (BaoChinhPhu, plo.vn)