After three years of negotiations and planning, local entrepreneur Wang Lu was pleased to announce the opening of the Shanghai Huashi Drug Recovery Hospital, although he admitted the clinic still faces many hurdles.

The clinic accepted its first four patients, all Tawainese, yesterday.

Drug addicts who enter the legal system in Shanghai are typically sent to a compulsory three-month stint in a government-run rehab clinic for their first offense and a nine-month stay in rehab for later offenses.

"Any hospital should hand over drug addicts to police. However, local authorities have agreed that addicts can avoid a compulsory sentence if they volunteer to take drug rehabilitation," said Wang, explaining the legal basis for his hospital.

The facility in remote Fengxian District currently employs seven nurses and five doctors and has 80 beds.

The hospital could prove attractive to addicts who can afford the 6,000 yuan (US$725) fee as they will only stay in rehab for 15 days - a time some experts don't think is long enough to break a long-term addiction.

Those sentenced to government-run facilities don't have to pay for treatment, leaving some to describe Wang's clinic as rehab for the rich.

Haushi's chief physician, Lin Jiankun, said the facility will base its recovery rate on how successful addicts are at staying off drugs during their 15-day treatment. That system, some experts say, ignores the issue of re-addiction, which is frequent when patients re-enter society.

"Of course, we will establish some kind of links when the treat-ment takers leave the hospital," said Lin, admitting that staying in touch with former patients will be costly for Huashi, which was set up as a profit-making enterprise.

"I have ambitious plans to expand the hospital for more addicts. However, I know the return may come several years later," said 40-year-old Wang, who owns an investment company in Shanghai.

Wang owns more than 60 percent of the hospital, which cost about 5 million yuan to set up, with the remaining shares held by Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital.

Wang said he isn't worried about earning a profit as much as he is concerned about society's reaction to the clinic.

"Many residents have raised complaints about the establish-ment of the hospital as they think all drug addicts are bad people and will burgle them as soon as they leave the hospital," said Wang.

"The attitude is not right, it may take a long time for people to understand drug addicts, just as it took time to understand AIDS patients," he said.

Unlike state-run clinics, Wang's facility can't be forced to reveal information about its patients to police unless criminal charges have been laid against them.

"We strictly protect patient privacy," said the entrepreneur.

(eastday.com June 25, 2003)