The Hospital Detoxification Unit (UDH) of the José Molina Orosa Hospital in Lanzarote closed its doors this Monday, as reported by Comisiones Obreras. Going to this unit was one of the first steps that many drug addicts had to take to start treatment, as it involved an admission for several weeks to stop consuming, which is an essential requirement to join the Therapeutic Network of Lanzarote.
The Ministry of Health alleges "technical reasons" for the closure. They assure that the patients' admissions are scheduled and that there were no scheduled admissions on these dates. The Lanzarote Health Area points out that the Unit will reopen in January "depending on the existing demand" and the "requests that are sent" from the different Drug Addiction Care Units.
Sources from the Lanzarote Health Area say that the measure has been taken "after communication and consensus with those responsible for the drug addiction network of the Island Council of Lanzarote" and that "during this period, care at the hospital center is not modified at all for those patients who need it for other causes or emergencies."
Possible transfers to other islands
"For those possible cases that may require preferential scheduled admission, it would be assessed whether to do it in a dependency other than the UDH or their transfer to one of our reference centers" on another island would be facilitated, they assure from the Health Area.
The UDH is integrated into the Drug Addiction Care Network of the Government of the Canary Islands and the Network of the Lanzarote Health Area. It has four beds, an average stay per patient of two weeks, five nurses, a doctor and an occupational therapist who are relocated to other services.
For its part, the Comisiones Obreras union considers that "a hard blow" is dealt to the care of drug addicts and they are deprived of one of the entry points to the Network to receive treatment, "given that the UHD played an important role in weaning the patient off drug addiction, to then continue their therapeutic process."
Nicolás Cabrera, secretary of the health union section of CCOO, points out that patients will go to the Emergency Room and will go more to other associations such as 'Calor y Café', since some will have nowhere to go for the first detoxification. Cabrera doubts that the service will resume in January and assures that it is not the first time that an attempt has been made to eliminate said Unit.
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