Philanthropist sets up addiction treatment facility

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Dr Ghulam (left) and Premkumar when met at the training venue.

KOTA KINABALU: Philanthropist and educationist Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Haji Ghulam Mohd bin Sayeed has embarked on another mission to save lives by setting up The Solace, an addiction treatment facility here in Sabah.

“After 38 years of educating children I am moving on to this … to save mankind and save families from destruction. I saw lives being destroyed by addiction so I want to do something about it,” he said.

Dr Ghulam who was met recently at a training hosted by The Solace, pointed out that addiction is an affliction that affects people from all walks of lives, globally.

“Addiction not only affects the illiterate but also highly educated people, and I am trying to save them. With that in mind, I founded and funded The Solace which is the first of its kind in Malaysia and this is one more step of mine to serve mankind and help disrupted lives to be normalized.

“We have a very highly qualified expatriate professional team from around the world to help treat addiction for drugs, sex, gambling, food (eating disorders) and internet gaming,” Dr Ghulam, who is also The Solace chairman, adding that the treatment facility which started operating fully in March, had been proclaimed by many national leaders as the pride of the country as it is the first private world class luxury addiction retreat in Malaysia.

When asked why there has been no publicity about The Solace, Dr Ghulam explained that addiction treatment was a discreet business as those seeking help from facilities like The Solace do not want others to know about it.

“So we do not even have signboards, and all the necessary information can only be obtained from our website. Our patients come and we pick them up at the airport, whisk them to our facility quietly, treat them and send them back,” he said.

On the training session which was held at a resort here from August 8 to 10, Dr Ghulam disclosed that it was an international program to train people to become councilors for addiction treatment.

This three-day training session enabled the participants to obtain a certification from the Asia Pacific Certification Board to be addiction therapists at different levels and was hosted by The Solace in conjunction with The Promises Singapore which is a similar treatment facility.

The trainers for the three days were the CEO of The Solace, Premkumar Shanmugam, Dr Sivakumar of Monash University and Dr Winslow Munidassa and Sharmini Winslow from The Promises.

“The training session was being held for the first time in Sabah. We are also having a conference in Melaka on September 25 and 26 where world participants will be taking part and exchanging views on the latest technology and techniques in addiction therapy. This is also the first time we are organizing such an event,” he said.

The Solace is economically priced for the region and is more affordable than western treatment with the same western methodologies.

It implements the latest and most cutting edge, evidence and outcome-based services available for addiction treatment using practices and clinical methods provided by experienced and exclusive Clinical Advisory Board.

Enquiries can be made through its website www.solacesabah.com