CAIRO: Egypt’s Minister of State for Family and Population Moshira Khattab said that the country’s drug addiction hotline has received over 8,000 calls in the past six months, reported the official Middle East News Agency (MENA).
The majority of calls came in from students, craftsmen and unemployed citizens, said Khattab.
The hotline is an essential part of a national fund dedicated to combating drug addiction, offering free-of-charge, anonymous treatment and counseling, she added.
“The ministry is working on developing the hotline as part of its plan to make it available in governorates across Egypt in coordination with the Ministry of Health, as the services of the drug addiction fund are currently limited to Cairo, Alexandria and Minya, Khattab was quoted as saying by MENA.
As part of its awareness campaign, the Ministry of Family and Population is hosting 67 anti-drug youth camps this summer.
“Once we receive [a call] from a drug addict, we get in touch with the necessary bodies and take action. If the report is from a family member or friend, we arrange for an intervention for the patient and then take them for treatment, said Magda Barsoum, an official at the ministry.
More than 100 guidance counselors man the phones at the hotline.
In a recent survey by the ministry on street children, only four percent of respondents admitted to using drugs.
The Ministry of Family and Population has several hotlines, including the child emergency hotline (16000), which receives and deals with a variety of calls, some unrelated to children.
“The hotline started out exclusively for the needs of children, however it evolved to offer counseling on any subject related to the Egyptian family, said Manal Shahin, head of the child emergency hotline.
People usually call to report domestic violence, violence at school, FGM operations, accidents, drug addiction, molestation and sexual abuse.
