The Luxembourg Ministry of Health and the CHNP have announced the opening of a new alcohol outpatient service in the form of the ÄDDI·C centre.

The ÄDDI·C centre, which offers care services to people with a problem relating to alcohol, has just officially opened its doors. The service forms part of the new “National Alcohol Plan”.

Conceived as a centre for information, consultation and care services, the ÄDDI·C centre specialises in addiction, especially alcohol dependence. During a press conference announcing the official opening of the centre, Dr Juliana D’Alimonte highlighted the importance of this new outpatient service, saying: “Full-time hospitalisation is not always the best response to a dependence problem.”

Likewise, the Ministry of Health considers the new Luxembourgish action plan to reduce the misuse of alcohol as a priority.

The managing director of the Centre hospitalier neuro-psychiatrique (CHNP), confirmed that alcohol represents a growing problem: “One could say that in Luxembourg 30,000 people have a problem related to alcohol, of which 4,000 to 5,000 are seriously dependent.”

Currently, the offer of care services in this domain is more focused on the most serious cases with hospital care in places such as the Centre thérapeutique d’Useldange. As such, the ÄDDI·C centre offers complementary care of a more preventative nature.

The “National Alcohol Plan” will come into effect next year.

Photo by CHNP/ Tavares Ricardo. From left to right: Dr Juliana D'Alimonte, doctor in the Social Medicine Division, Dependence Sicknesses and Mental Health for the Ministry of Health; Dr Claude Besenius, head of ÄDDI·C centre and Centre thérapeutique d'Useldange; Dr Marc Graas, managing director of CHNP