A drug treatment centre helping just 17 addicts is costing taxpayers almost $2 million a year.

And the Nelson Bascome Centre for Substance Abuse Treatment has almost twice as many staff as patients, according to newly released details.

The facility is currently treating 12 men and five women for drug addiction at a cost of $1.821 million, or around $107,000 for each patient. According to a Government spokesman, the facility employs 17 staff, while an additional 14 carers are on call at any one time.

The spokesman said: “The operating budget for the women’s treatment centre is $1.1 million and includes the treatment centre and a transitional home.

“The men’s treatment centre cost is $721,000 including just the treatment Programme for the fiscal year 2013/14.”

The facility comes under the control of the Department for National Drug Control which has been flagged up by the Spending and Government Efficiency Commission as a waste of public resources.

In its final report, made public last month, the commission said: “Abolish the Department of National Drug Control [sic]. Previously a quango, this Department was the conduit through which grants were given to rehabilitation service providers. Those grants can be given directly from the Ministry. Retain, as a section within the Ministry, the research/educational element as well as the accreditation responsibility of the old NDC. Outsource all treatment to rehabilitation service providers as well as the running of the new treatment facility in Dockyard.”

Despite that recommendation, just last week MPs approved new laws “to clarify the mandate and responsibilities for the Department of National Drug Control”.

With Government seemingly determined to keep the West End facility open under the auspices of the DNDC, Independent MP Terry Lister raised concerns about the future funding of the treatment centre and how staffing levels might be affected.

“Some think the DNDC is already overstaffed,” said Mr Lister.

“Many didn’t feel we were getting the results for the money that was being spent. So are we now putting ourselves down another path where more money is going to be spent?”

He noted that a programme for prisoners by way of the Transitional Living Centre (TLC) was shut down more than a year ago, despite its success rate. He asked if there were plans to bring the programme back into existence.

Asked whether more staff will be required by the DNDC as a result of the new legislation, the spokesman said: “There may be a need to fill the vacant Treatment Coordinator’s post which would have responsibility for compliance.

“No other funding is anticipated.”

Mr Lister also questioned why Government had spent time developing a Government department that could soon be axed. Recommendations made by the SAGE Commission are due to be debated in the House of Assembly on Friday.

“On Friday we’ll be here God knows how long debating SAGE — we’ll talk about everything that comes to mind,” Mr Lister said.

“SAGE made a recommendation that this organisation be eliminated. What we’re doing today is a slap in the face to what we’ll be doing on December 13.

“The proper thing would have been to debate SAGE and have the Minister, and the Government, say ‘here are the things we’re going to do, here the things we might do, and here are the things we’ll never do’.

“And when they say — having the majority of the votes in the House — that they will not close the DNDC under any reason, they have a five-year plan, they believe it’s the organisation to lead the fight against drugs and the rehabilitation of our people, then we come the next week and we pass the bill. That would only make sense to me.

“To have the conversation the week before SAGE it’s just a picking away around the edges of the SAGE report.”