AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY


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Vinnytsia, Ukraine

The regional addiction rehabilitation clinic or “narco-dispensary” in Vinnytsia, western Ukraine, sees itself as being practically unique. It is part of the Yushchenko regional psycho-neurological hospital, one of the oldest in the country. Established on March 12th, 1980, this clinic, under the leadership of its director, Paul Slobodyanyuk, treats people with drug or alcohol dependence, most of whom who have been abandoned by their families, by society, and by the government.
There are three departments, (serious addictions, re-adaptation and recovery) as well as a polyclinic. The average age of the patients is 37. They are treated for several months by a team of psychologists and doctors in order to overcome their illnesses. That way they hope to forget their “alternative realities” and improve their mental and physical health.
For all that, conditions in the clinic are far from ideal: the field of addiction is not a priority for the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, so the institution receives little government aid. Indeed for the past 30 years it claims to be practically independent, even though it is lacking the resources necessary to treat its patients correctly – even basic hygiene is difficult to guarantee.

 

“The Soviet Union officially recognised the study of addiction at start of the 80s. At the time, the USSR made 650 beds available in factories throughout the Podolie region. But no treatment of substitution was available.
The patients – criminals condemned by the Federal authorities – were followed by teams of psychiatrists and had to do forced labour as therapy for periods ranging from two to six months (…) this treatment was never proved to be really effective…»

Paul Slobodyanyuk
Vinnytsia, Ukraine – March 2017.

Photographs by GIRONDEL Thomas
2017