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Hindustan Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Majitha hooch tragedy exposed AAP govt's hollow promises on drug-free state: Bajwa
Taking a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government's Nasha Mukti Yatra, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Punjab assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, on Friday said that the AAP government's Yudh Nashian Virudh (War against Drugs) campaign has already proven to be a fiasco, and now they have come up with this. Bajwa said the Majitha hooch tragedy that claimed 27 lives unmasked the AAP government's hollow promise to make Punjab a drug-free state. 'Chief minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal are launching the Nasha Mukti Yatra from Nawanshahr. However, both have failed awfully to make Punjab a drug-free state within the deadlines they decided. Why should the people of Punjab trust them now?' he asked in a written statement here. The Congress leader said that Kejriwal had vowed to end the drug menace in Punjab within three to four months of forming the government and later, Mann also committed to making Punjab a drug-free state by the Independence Day of 2024. 'Have they eradicated the drug menace in Punjab? The answer is well-known to every Punjabi,' he said, adding, 'DGP Gaurav Yadav has now come up with another deadline to end the drug menace in Punjab.' Bajwa claimed that instead of working on the ground, the AAP government believed in PR exercises by launching campaigns with fancy names. What's Kejriwal's locus standi in Punjab, asks Bittu Jalandhar: Union minister of state for railways and food processing Ravneet Singh Bittu on Friday questioned Arvind Kejriwal's locus standi in Punjab government's 'Nasha Mukti Yatra'. In a statement, Bittu said Kejriwal holds no constitutional post in Punjab and the AAP government is anyway not in a position to face the people of Punjab after 27 poor people died after consuming spurious liquor, manufactured with smuggled methanol and 'sold under patronage of AAP leaders'. 'Kejriwal to come clean in Delhi liquor cases before giving advice to people of Punjab,' Bittu said.
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.'
