VZCZCXYZ0007
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVN #0806/01 3030847
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 300847Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1617
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 7532
RUEHFT/AMCONSUL FRANKFURT 0313

UNCLAS VIENTIANE 000806 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR INL/RM-BARRY 
DEPT ALSO FOR INL/C-BROWNE 
DEPT ALSO FOR INL/AAE-BOULDIN 
FRANKFURT FOR RPSO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR ASUP LA
SUBJECT: REQUEST INL APPROVAL FOR CONTRACT TO CONSTRUCT ATS 
DRUG TREATMENT CLINIC IN VIENTIANE PROVINCE 
 
REF: NAS VIENTIANE FY-2007 DRUG DEMAND REDUCTION 
 
     PROJECT ADVANCED ACQUISITION PLAN 
 
¶1. (U) Summary and Action Requested (see also para 9):  This 
message requests INL/RM approval for NAS Vientiane to 
authorize RPSO Frankfurt to contract for design and 
construction of a drug abuse treatment clinic in Vientiane 
Province, Laos, specializing in treatment of addiction to 
amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS).  NAS proposes to employ 
components of a standard GOL design that has been used in 
three other provinces.  Unlike those earlier projects, 
however, NAS is recommending that this facility be 
constructed only to the more limited patient capacity 
(probably initially 20-30 patients) that Vientiane province 
can demonstrably support, in terms of both operating funds 
and trained personnel.  NAS Vientiane also requests INL/C 
concurrence to use any remaining FY 2006 demand reduction 
funds to address continuing deficiencies in the habitability 
of the Vientiane Municipal treatment facility at Somsagna. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  Background:  Sale and abuse of ATS has been 
identified in the INCSR, by UNODC, and by the GOL as a 
significant and increasing concern that has now reached 
virtually all socio-economic levels and geographic regions in 
Laos.  The response of the Government of Laos continues to be 
impaired by a shortage of treatment facilities, lack of 
trained treatment personnel, and insufficient operating 
resources. 
 
¶3.  (U)  Several international donors have already responded 
to this problem:  UNODC, Japan, Singapore, the USG, and 
others have assisted the Somsagna drug abuse treatment center 
in Vientiane Municipality, which is the de facto national 
treatment and training facility.  The Government of Thailand 
built a 100-bed center in Champassak Province in 2005.  The 
USG funded construction of a center using similar plans in 
Savannakhet Province that opened in 2006.  China has built a 
facility following the Champassak/Savannakhet plan in Udomxai 
Province, which opened in 2007.  In addition to these three 
built to relatively standard designs, Brunei constructed two 
small clinics in Xaignabouri Province during 2006 that are 
not yet functional.  Bokeo Province operates a small clinic 
of its own in the village of Nam Chuam, and UNODC donated its 
former headquarters in Boun Neua, Phongsaly Province, for use 
as a clinic.  With the exception of Udomxai, the Embassy 
plans to provide limited assistance to all of these 
facilities in FY 2008, especially with regard to building 
staff competence and expanding vocational training. 
 
¶4. (U)  Unfortunately, even with these existing facilities, 
the Government of Laos (GOL) lacks the capacity to treat even 
a fraction of its addict population.  Total annual patient 
throughput, were all facilities operating at capacity, would 
not exceed 2000 patients per year.  The GOL estimates the 
number of ATS addicts nationally at 40,000 (and growing); NAS 
Vientiane estimates that there may be as many as 200,000 ATS 
users of all types in Laos.  Unfortunately, all of the 
treatment facilities, save Somsagna, are operating well below 
their physical capacities, for want of both trained staff and 
adequate funding.  Consequently, Somsagna, the only major 
facility with competent personnel, is operating well over 
capacity, routinely handling patient loads of 600-700 in a 
center that could reasonably accommodate perhaps 400. 
Somsagna, for the reasons detailed above, is the current 
default for addicts from Vientiane Province.  NAS Vientiane 
believes that construction of a center in Vientiane Province 
(which is a separate administrative entity from Vientiane 
Municipality) could help to mitigate some of the overcrowding 
at Somsagna, as the proposed site for the new center is 70 
kilometers north of the city, in an area currently without a 
treatment center. 
 
¶5. (U)  Vientiane Province Center.  To avoid some of the 
problems that have plagued other facilities, Vientiane 
Province officials have agreed to establish an operating 
budget for the center in advance, and to construct only the 
treatment capacity that the province can support.  This 
decision in principle followed Embassy-funded travel by 
provincial officials to existing treatment centers where they 
were able to see for themselves the problems intrinsic to 
building large but operationally expensive facilities.  The 
Lao National Commission for Drug Control and Supervision 
(LCDC) informed the NAS that Vientiane Province has 
established an annual operating budget of US$20,000.  NAS 
Vientiane estimates that US$20,000 per annum could 
 
potentially support the operations in Laos of an ATS 
treatment center with up to 55 beds.  The GOL claims that 
patient expenses, primarily food and medication, run 
approximately US$0.75-0.80 per day in existing centers, and 
has told the NAS that staff salaries are paid by provincial 
governments separately from the operating budget.  Using one 
 
dollar per patient-day as a conservative figure in Laos, 
US$20,000 could in theory support an annual throughput of 110 
patients (meaning, since the GOL uses a 180-day treatment 
cycle, capacity of 55 patients at a time). 
 
¶6. (U) However, NAS intends to urge that the new facility be 
initially constructed on an even smaller scale, considering 
that a well-equipped center with a more modest patient 
capacity is the best option for Vientiane Province until Laos 
can correct its current deficiencies in staff training. 
Drawing on plans developed for the existing centers in 
Champassak, Savannakhet and Udomxai, the Vientiane Province 
center could be designed to accommodate further expansion in 
the future, when the province is better able to provide 
additional staffing and financial support.  For that reason, 
NAS would urge construction of a Vientiane Province facility 
with an initial target capacity of 20-30 in-patients.  We 
consider this preferable to building another larger facility 
that would be underutilized because of limits on professional 
staff and patient support funding. 
 
¶7. Somsagna Facility. (U) The amount of FY 2006 demand 
reduction funds provided by INL/C that would be used for the 
smaller Vientiane Province center would thus be somewhat less 
than the total now available.  NAS Vientiane would therefore 
also propose to use any remaining FY 2006 provided by INL/C, 
above what is necessary to construct the Vientiane Province 
center, to renovate portions of the existing men's 
rehabilitation facility at Somsagna, along lines similar to 
the renovation of the women's facility now being completed. 
As noted above, Somsagna, as the only fully functional 
treatment facility in Laos with an effective staff, is 
heavily overcrowded and suffers severe habitability problems. 
 Though intended only to care for addicts from the capital, 
it has assumed the role of a national treatment center 
because families will not entrust their troubled youth to the 
semi-trained staffs in the provincial centers.  (Note: The 
Director of Somsagna recently told the NAS that 60 percent or 
more of the patients are committed by their families. End 
note.)  NAS Vientiane believes that the savings from a 
reduced scope Vientiane provincial center could best be 
utilized in Somsagna, where 500-600 young men are crammed 
into dormitories that can reasonably house half that number. 
 
¶8.  (U) Timing:  The rainy season should be ending in 
Vientiane Province shortly, and construction of the Vientiane 
Province center, and renovation work at Somsagna, could begin 
at any time after that.  NAS understands demands upon RPSO, 
but hopes that if NAS can secure quotations for a small 
initial design contract, RPSO would be able to place this 
order promptly to enable advertising and evaluation of actual 
construction bids and a start of construction with as much of 
the dry season as possible left to complete it. 
 
¶9.  (U) Action Requested:  NAS Vientiane requests INL/RM 
approval for the NAS to authorize RPSO Frankfurt to contract 
for the design and construction of a drug treatment center in 
Vientiane Province.  The NAS also requests INL/C/CJ 
concurrence to utilize any remaining FY 2006 demand reduction 
funds not subobligated for the Vientiane provincial project 
on habitability enhancements at the Somsagna drug treatment 
center in the Municipality of Vientiane. 
 
¶10.  (U) Post again thanks INL/C/CJ for its strong support of 
drug demand reduction programs in Laos. 
HUSO