An Exclusive Interview with Professor Ali Baldo – Part 1
Revealing the shocking information’s regarding drug abuse and addiction in Sudan
Alaa Babiker
The issue of drugs and its abuse in the Arab and Islamic worlds has recently had an international focus, as the nations and generations of youth and their futures are under the process of being destroyed unless major effective interventions took place. Starting with the origination of drugs ending with their medical complications they have on the bodies and minds of their users, and the life changing socioeconomic and cultural catastrophes they make on the lives of their users. Taking in consideration all the previously mentioned aspects; the Citizen Credible Outlet is working very hard to address the spread issue of drugs in Sudan, reflecting many of its sides, having exclusive interviews with the most important doctors, influencers, and decision makers in Sudan, and suggesting the most proper solutions to the public in an attempt to assure the most reliable information is being transferred.
On Thursday, January 26th 2023, the executive team of the Citizen Credible Outlet visited the medical clinic of Professor Ali Baldo, one of the top psychiatrists in Sudan, and the doctor who had been assigned by Khartoum Governor to supervise one of the important rehabilitation centers in Khartoum.
The delegation of this visit was of; Mr. Al-Rasheed Mutasim; the General Manager of Citizen Outlet, Mr. Omer Ahmed Elhaj; Managing Editor, and Alaa Babiker; the Executive Secretary.
We asked Professor Baldo the following Questions, and his useful Answers were as follow:-
Q1: In order to introduce our readers to Professor Ali Baldo, would you give us a brief introduction to yourself? Graduation and practical experiences inside and outside Sudan?
A1: My name is Ali Mohammed Ali Al-Sanjak, well known as Ali Baldo. Our roots derive back to Tangasi Aljazeera in the Northern State, after which our family moved to Omdurman early in the last century. I am the only kid in my family. I have been graduated from 6 universities, including the faculty of Medicine, Arts, Economics, Social Studies, Religion, Law, and linguistics including Arabic, English, French, Dutch, and Spanish. My basic graduation have been from University of Khartoum, faculty of Medicine, as bachelor of medicine and bachelor of Surgery, after which I had been enrolled at the Housemanship in Omdurman area, then a registrar and a psychiatrist in the Medical Board of Sudan. Associate Professor of Medicine University of Khartoum, and a lot of other universities in Khartoum.
I have been fired from work during The Kezan period, at that time the General Manager of the Ministry of Health and the Tigani Al-Mahi Hospital, was a close relative to the ex-president of Sudan, Omer Al-Bashir, saw in a dream that she must fire me off work after I resigned by one year! So, I established my own work at Dr. Ali Baldo Medical Center in Omdurman at Doctor’s Street, and then I established Amal Center for Rehabilitation in 2008, and worked as a part timer in some universities and a lot of committees regarding psychiatry, rehabilitation and addiction treatment and social work fair as being one of the trainee, and a Trainer of Trainee in human resources and human development including hypnosis, hypnotherapy and other specialties.
Q2: In your opinion, what is the general situation of mental health in Sudan?
A2: Actually, the deterioration of psychiatric and medical services, including psychiatric services and psychiatric facilities in Sudan, with a great damage to our mental process have been one of the most astonishing periods from the Meroitic Era till now. Nowadays our humans and our citizens in Sudan are suffering form a lot of stresses, social, economic, political, with reflection on the mental health that produce a lot of tensions, anxieties, social instabilities, divorces, and a lot of other things. Recently the addiction trends in Sudan that made our current situation in mental health is highly alarming and requires a strong and a quick move to preserve our Sudanese personalities, which have been subjected to a lot of damage during the past decades.
Q3: How true are the news claiming that Ice Drug is manufactured in the form of candies for children?
A3: Actually, there are a lot of rumors regarding the Ice methods of being trafficked, used, and metabolized in the human body. Ice could be smoked, injected, inhaled, or being swallowed in any fluids such as juice, tea, water, and so on. But the only one who could use Ice in sweets is the trafficker, but the merchant of Ice could not use it that way to laymen to spread Ice. But it would be a smart move to stop taking, eating, drinking from unknown sources, and to be very cautious about the way you handle things in schools, universities, streets, and work places to protect yourself from any unexpected or unintended use of Ice or any other substances such as Tramadol or so.
Q4: Do you have information’s about the meeting of drugs traffickers that took place in Sudan?
A4: Actually, I’m not authorized to make a statement about this, but I think if it really took place at that state in Darfur, it would be one of the most dangerous moves in drug control in Sudan, which reflect the loose security forces at that area, and also it will be a negative publicity regarding rehabilitations and drug control. But on the other hand, I may send a call to such merchants of Cannabis and Bango in Sudan to give us a hand in controlling drug problem in Sudan in regard to the cigarettes and to the snuff merchant, which in my own opinion there is no difference between the two, as one of the social responsibilities!
Q5: Would you give us a brief information about Captagon?
A5: Captagon is used as a medical drug to treat certain neurological conditions such as Attention-Deficit Hyperactive Syndromes, Mental Retardation, Low IQ, Catalepsy, and some cases of Epilepsy also. But it has been abused by people and traffickers for the effects of hallucinations, sensing of being powerful, sense of being high “even touch the sky above the falling rains” as one of the patients said to me!
Captagon had also been used by high way drivers to be alert and active during the long trips. Captagon is known as Teemo, Farawlla “Strawberry”, Abo-aleeb, Tofahtain “Two apples”, Shay Bai Laban “Tea with Milk”, Bamby “Pink”, and a lot of other street names. It is highly used by youth at universities and schools; we have patients and addicts at the age of 9 and 10 in the primary schools both males and females; such students had actually been tricked by traffickers as this tablet is one of the Antimigraine and Anti-headache, Analgesics, or Antiemetic, so they abuse it without intension.
Q6: When did you start working in Anti-addiction field in Sudan?
A6: In 2008, I established my first center of rehabilitation, its called Al-Amal, in the Doctor’s Street. At that time because of the political stigma and the social instability, a lot of people thought that there is no addiction problem in Sudan, but we actually saw that problem at our clinic, in the hospital, and in the street also. At that time there was no governmental policy regarding addiction control, we just used to treat Malaria, HIV, Kala-azar, and even some unknown diseases in Sudan have been treated by the Ministry of Health.
In 2014, Hayat Rehabilitation Center was established after around 6 years of my first Al-Amal Center of Rehabilitation.
Q7: In your opinion; what are the aspects of comprehensive treatment for drug problem in Sudan?
A7: In fact, the question of drugs and addiction must be addressed by the government, because it consumes a lot of resources, logistics, staff, and money, so the individual contribution is highly appreciated, but it will be of used. For example, the initiative of Save You Son “Alhag Waladak“ is inactive, it is some way of emotional move, but it is not a scientific move regarding addiction control, and even addition control is mainly a medical question, if any one took the substance inside his body, there is no singer or footballer could help you, it is just the doctor who is going to save your life, you are going to be dead if you continue on such initiatives, it is such emotional and supportive approach to the problem, but it is not touching the core problem of the medical aspect of addiction problem. The government must take its responsibility, guarantee free medications with full privacy to the patient and the family. Also, the stigma of being addict, it is about time to be removed and deleted, and to delete addictive persons as other patients in the normal medical practice.