De-addiction centre gets 15 more beds

JALANDHAR:WITH heavy campaigning against drug abuse in the state and sudden spurt in numbers of addicts queuing up for treatment, the Model Drug De-addiction Centre at Jalandhar civil hospital has increased the number of beds from 50 to 65 to accommodate the influx. At present, 55 addicts are admitted at the centre.

Set up in 2015, the de-addiction centre, being run from ESI hospital’s building, had 20 beds to treat the addicts. However, with the help of state government, the centre was upgraded with new facilities and the beds were increased to 50 from 20. The centre has four psychiatrists, three counsellors, nine staff nurses, four ward attenders and four sweepers.

A senior health official, requesting anonymity said, “In July, the 50-bedded centre was full and the officials had to administer treatment through outdoor patient department (OPD) than admitting them because of lack of beds. Seeing this, the local administration and the health department decided to add more beds to cater to the patients.”

Psychiatrist at the de-addiction centre, Dr Aman Sood, said that the centre has witnessed a rise in patients in past few months after an awareness drive initiated by the district administration and heavy crackdown against the drug peddlers by the police. “On an average, we attend five to seven new patients daily. In July, as many as 1,700 patients were treated through OPD and 196 indoor patients registered at the centre,”he said.

“In June, we treated 428 patients in OPD and 86 indoor patients. Similarly in May, the centre attended 663 OPD patients and 85 indoor patients. Around 75% patients are addicted to heroin,” said Dr Sood.