Wang Yunlin never thought he would be in charge of a drug recovery hospital where doctors perform great tasks to heal addicts.

The Shanghai Huashi Drug Recovery Hospital, the only private recovery institution in the city, is different from government funded recovery stations where druggies lose their addiction through forceful means.

Wang's hospital is open to people who want to get rid of their addiction but who feel the need for privacy.

"Many heroin takers are fearful to get treatment from government recovery stations where their private information might be made public through the police and the community they live. In that case, their lives may be filled with discrimination," said Wang, the drug recovery hospital's director.

The hospital, tucked away in a quiet corner of Fengxian District and surrounded by two rivers, is an ideal place for addicts to bury their sensitive past.

According to Wang, if drug takers want to get rid of their addictive past, their living environment plays a key role.

"Drug takers need respect when they come out of the hospital," he said. "They need families to support them to stay away from drugs and they need the public to understand them and forget their past."

To ensure patients totally give up their addiction, doctors at the hospital are asked to stay in touch with their patients after they are discharged.

But one of the problems they face is that patients are not required to provide their true identity. In many cases, their information is often false.

As it is, the hospital sometimes loses contact with a patient who often falls back into the clutches of addiction.

Yet the danger is not only confined to false information. It can also come with addicts visiting the hospital.

Wang's greatest fear is that some patients bring heroin into the hospital, seeing it as a safe injection site.

"If that does happen, one day the hospital will be shut down," Wang says with a nervous laugh.

To prevent such an occurrence, doctors frequently search rooms without a patient's knowledge.

Wang said it was his plan to build more barriers in the hospital's various buildings to limit contact among patients.

"We hope we can get the right to search patients when they enter the hospital since their bodies are the best place to hide drugs."

Although it is a greater risk to operate a hospital where patients enjoy greater freedom than ordinary drug recovery stations, Wang believes such a service is vital.

"We are treating addicts as patients," Wang said. "Many patients take illegal drugs because they are ignorant of the harm they can do or they are curious to its effect. Yet, when they realized it and try to get clean, they encounter social discrimination and are treated as criminals."

To gain patients' appreciation, the hospital invited doctors in to set up their own psychological treatments.

A doctor from the hospital said: "If we talked about morality to patients at the beginning, we would probably be kicked out soon.

"So we usually chat about business and trivial family matters with patients to help find the right time to get to the point that persuades them to get off drugs."

Local doctors are also further studying Chinese herbal treatments to hopefully cut down on the use of methadone which has been a standard treatment for drug addicts since the mid 20th century.

(Shanghai Daily July 4, 2005)