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Hindustan Times
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Punjab govt's anti-drug campaign showing positive results, says governor
Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria on Sunday said the state government's 'Yudh Nashyan Virudh' (anti-drug war) had become a mass movement as it was showing positive results. Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a function, he said the campaign sensitised people who were coming together to eradicate drug menace from the state. Stating that collective efforts were needed to root out the problem, he exhorted all sections of society to participate in war against drugs. 'Everyone should understand his responsibility and lend his support to the anti-drug campaign,' he said, adding that mere government efforts were not enough to wipe out the menace. The governor said that unemployment and idleness were the root causes of addiction, so youth must be given ample job opportunities and associated with constructive activities. Earlier, addressing members of village and ward defence committees, he said they could play a very significant role in identifying drug peddlers. He appealed to the district administration to give powers to these committees to help them act in a more effective way. Deputy commissioner Ashika Jain informed the governor about the steps taken by the administration to curb drug business. She revealed that capacity of all government-run and private de addiction centres had been raised and three new OOAT centres were being opened in the district. The governor also visited the de-addiction and rehabilitation centre in the city's Fatehgarh area where he interacted with inmates. He took information about the vocational training being imparted to them. 144 peddlers arrested, 6-kg heroin seized Chandigarh Punjab Police on Sunday arrested 144 drug smugglers and recovered 6.7-kg heroin and 440-kg poppy husk from their possession. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached 16,492 in just 99 days of the 'Yudh Nashian Virudh' (anti-drug war) campaign, officials said. Special DGP (law and order) Arpit Shukla said over 200 police teams, comprising over 1,400 personnel, under the supervision of 88 gazetted officers, conducted raids at 479 locations across the state, leading to registration of 107 first information reports (FIRs). Police teams also checked 541 suspicious persons during the day-long operation, he said. The special DGP said that the state government enforced a three-pronged strategy — enforcement, deaddiction and prevention (EDP) — to eradicate drugs from the state. As part of de-addiction, cops convinced 89 persons to undergo de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment on Sunday, officials added.
Hindustan Times
18-05-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
Punjab's plan to monitor OOAT clinics hits technical snag
The Punjab government's plan to monitor outpatient opioid assisted treatment (OOAT) clinics through a digital portal has run into a technical snag even before its official launch. After detecting multiple instances of pilferage of buprenorphine tablets – a drug used in the treatment of addicts – the state government had installed biometric machines and web-cameras for face recognition at all government and private OOATs last month. It was to be operated through a portal for which the OOAT employees were trained. 'But due to a technical glitch in the portal, we are not able to use it,' said an employee of an OOAT centre in Patiala. Over the past few years, drugs worth crores have either gone missing or been illegally sold from OOAT centres and private de-addiction centres. In April this year, a Chandigarh-based doctor, who ran as many as 22 private de-addiction centres across 16 districts in Punjab, was arrested for the illegal sale of over 31,000 narcotic tablets, including buprenorphine, meant for rehab patients. In some instances, officials said, cases of impersonation and fake entries meant to siphon off drugs were observed. The new portal, Drug De-addiction Registry Portal, is expected to help curb such practices. The centralised database will also have medical histories of patients registered at OOAT clinics and private centres. A senior health official said, 'There is some technical issue in the portal, which is being handled by experts at National Informatics Centre, Punjab. I am hopeful that the system will be launched within 7 to 10 days.' Nearly 10 lakh patients receive buprenorphine tablets from 529 government and 177 private OOAT clinics in the state.
Hindustan Times
17-05-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
Amid surge in OOAT admissions, staff shortage proves a handicap
With the number of patients visiting government-run Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) clinics seeing a rise amid the Punjab government's anti-drug campaign, a shortage of psychiatrists and counsellors is proving to be a handicap. There are only 45 psychiatrists for 542 OOAT clinics across the state, and many districts lack even a single psychiatrist. Similarly, with just 216 counsellors across the state, many clinics do not have a single counsellor, despite the health department's norm of two counsellors per clinic with a daily OPD count over 100. Psychiatrists play a crucial role in monitoring the dosage of recovering drug addicts, conducting inspections of OOAT clinics, and approving the enrolment of new patients into the programme. As per information, drug addicts visiting OOAT clinics had seen a two-fold rise since the state government launched the 'Yudh Nashian Virudh' (War against Drugs) campaign in the last week of February this year. While 816 patients had registered in the month of February, it went up to 1, 391 in March, and 1, 168 in April, as per the data accessed by HT. As per officials, the numbers could have been higher if there were enough psychiatrists, who give the final approval to enrol new patients into the programme. In all, 10 lakh patients across the state have registered in OOATs since these were launched in 2017. Parminder Singh, state president, Government De-Addiction and Rehabilitation Employees Union, Punjab, said, 'The anti-drug drive will not be successful unless the manpower requirement at OOAT centres is not met. Without adequate psychiatrists and counsellors, treatment of drug addicts is severely affected.' A senior official said that the government had already initiated the process to hire 343 clinical psychologists (counsellors) while efforts are on to hire psychiatrists. 'The government is very serious about hiring the required manpower to fulfil the vacancies. We have a shortage of psychiatrists, but we will soon hire a psychiatrist too.'
