The national government is mulling to build a large-scale drug rehabilitation facility in Bohol, said a provincial health official.

According to Dr. Cesar Tomas Lopez, Capitol’s executive assistant on health and hospital modernization, initial proposals on the rehab center indicated that the facility will be established in Carmen, Bohol.

However, Lopez noted that the plan remains unconfirmed as no formal talks on the project between the provincial government and the Department of Health (DOH) have been held yet.

Based on a report, the facility will be used to treat “high-risk” drug surrenderees from Cebu.

Previously, Carmen Remedios Durano-Meca, executive director of the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Council, said that 3,000 of the 35,000 drug surrenderees in Cebu need rehabilitation.

The report indicated that these drug personalities will be treated in Bohol, but the Cebu government has appealed to have the facility built in said province instead.

The large scale facility will be under the national government and is unlikely to interfere with the provincial government’s plan to build another rehab center at the island-town of Pres. Carlos P. Garcia (CPG).

An P86-million fund has been earmarked for the proposed CPG facility.

In Nueva Ecija, a mega drug treatment facility which was funded by a Chinese tycoon was inaugurated by President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday last week.

The 11-hectare facility is the first large-scale drug treatment center in the country and has a capacity to hold 10,000 patients in its 172 building units. (Rey Tutas)