Over 3,300 children seek help for substance addiction in Turkey

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

The number of children requesting help in battling drug or alcohol addiction was 3,377, while 328 of them received in-patient treatment. DHA photo

More than 3,300 children in Turkey have applied for substance addiction treatment within the last year, the Turkish health minister has said.

The number of children requesting help in battling drug or alcohol addiction was 3,377, while 328 of them received in-patient treatment, Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu has said, responding to a written petition filed by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Van deputy Özdal Üçer.

There are only three Children and Teenage Substance Addiction Research and Treatment Centers (ÇEMATEM) in Turkey for now, but the ministry plans to open new facilities, including one in the eastern province of Van, the minister added. 

Currently, there are only ÇEMATEMs in Istanbul, İzmir and Diyarbakır, so children and teenagers suffering from substance addiction are treated at 25 Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment Centers (AMATEM) across the country.

Müezzinoğlu said three new AMATEMs went online last year and that the ministry planned to inaugurate new ones before the end of 2013.