The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement hosted the virtual handover ceremony of additional assistance from the US government for women’s rehabilitation training programme to be conducted at Lashio drug rehabilitation centre yesterday.

During the ceremony, Union Minister Dr Win Myat Aye expressed words of thanks to the US government and its people for their donations to the drug rehabilitation centre in Wethtikan and Pekhon in 2019 and other additional assistance for new women rehabilitation training to be established in Lashio drug rehabilitation centre.

The Union Minister also highlighted the establishment of 14 rehabilitation centres to date, 3-month rehabilitation training and 40-day community-based rehabilitation programmes.

He then talked about the temporary closure of centres during COVID-19 outbreak and the plans to run the centres with no more than 30 people according to the instructions of National-Level Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment of COVID-19. The US Ambassador Mr Thomas Laszlo Vajda said the US and Myanmar are facing the problems of drug addiction which affect the families and regional economy.

The rate of drug abuse is increasing amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Myanmar is facing similar cases, and so the US government provides the needed assistance to Myanmar to use in rehabilitation processes.

He also stressed the importance of rehabilitation programmes without any gender discrimination and briefed the donations for the first women’s rehabilitation training.

Director Mr Ryan Mckean for the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement emphasized the donation as a good result of the bilateral agreement between the US and Myanmar signed in 2017 and further bilateral relations in rehabilitation programmes.

Then, Mr Ryan McKean handed over the donations to Director-General of Rehabilitation Department U Win Naing Tun.

MNA

(Translated by Khine Thazin Han)

PHOTO: MNA

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