STAFF SHORTAGE DELAYS DRUG PROGRAM

Drug treatment places should be doubled in Sydney's south-west but a
shortage of trained staff was affecting expansion plans, the State's chief
health officer, Dr Andrew Wilson, said yesterday.

He told a parliamentary inquiry into Cabramatta's police resources that
there had been only a small increase in treatment places in south-western
Sydney since the 1999 Drug Summit.

Dr Wilson said there were at least 300 to 400 drug-dependent residents of
Cabramatta, with statistics showing that 15 per cent of NSW's 400 overdose
deaths a year occurred within a four-kilometre radius of the suburb.

But there was a "very significant gap" between the level of health services
provided and what was needed. The short-term aim was to double the number
of treatment places to 1,000.

"Those areas which are sometimes the most problematic are those where it's
most difficult to recruit staff to do the work," Dr Wilson said.

He added that he was negotiating for a clinical research unit to be located
in south-western Sydney to help attract staff and test experimental therapies.

In other evidence yesterday, Mr Michael Hogan, the director of the
"Cabramatta Project" run by the Premier's Department and set up by Mr Carr
in April 1997, conceded that the project's newsletters were still printed
only in English. Seven out of 10 Cabramatta residents over the age of five
speak a language other than English.

Dr Wilson said there were an estimated 4,900 drug-dependent people in
south-western Sydney and 1,664 on the methadone program.

The vast majority were between 25 and 45, and 21 per cent were from
non-English-speaking backgrounds.

The health department's AIDS and infectious diseases unit estimated that 14
per cent of injecting equipment handed out in NSW was used in Sydney's
south-west.

The chair of the parliamentary committee, Ms Helen Sham-Ho, said the Police
Association would meet Cabramatta police on Thursday to formulate another
submission and would establish if any police wanted to give evidence.

Cabramatta police last week supported Detective Sergeant Tim Priest for
raising allegations of gang and drug activity at the inquiry. Up to nine
other officers have indicated that they wish to give evidence.