De-addiction drugs out of stock in Tarn Taran, patients up in arms

Tarn Taran, April 10

Addict patients held protests at different OOAT centres here on Saturday alleging that they had not been provided proper medicines for the last three days.

The district has 15 OOAT centres and about 20,000 patients are registered with them. Some of the centres have no stock of drugs, while others will run out of the stock in a day or two.

Patients in Tarn Taran, Tharu, Ghariala and at other places condemned the state government by raising slogans against the government. They said negligence on the part of the government had been visible at the very initial stage.

Addict patients held a protest at the Ghariala OOAT centre Ghariala (in pic) and smashed window panes of the hospital. They also organized protests at other centres.

Dr Isha Dhawan, psychiatrist and in-charge of the District Mental Health Cell, said the shortage of drugs had become a phenomenon at the state level and due to this fact the patients were being given half of the prescribed amount of dose. Dr Dhawan said there was a stock of medicines for only one day, which should be for two weeks.

“The new government promised the moon, but in reality the situation is worse,” says a disappointed patient who hasn’t received his daily medicine for third consecutive day at the Ghariala hospital’s OOAT centre.

“The harvesting season is on and we come here only to return empty-handed wasting our time and money,” says another patient. They have already reduced our dose to one or two tablets a day, many of us need more doses, so they resort to old habits, while you can get as much dose as you want in bulk and for 2-3 weeks at private centres but at a premium. They wonder if it’s a coincidence, said the patients.

An expert, requesting anonymity, states that the department should have six months stock of medicines in buffer as per the guidelines.

At present, stocks in the whole state was running low as there was no medicine left at the Verka warehouse, which supplies medicines to a number of districts.

Tarn Taran has 15 OOAT centres and about 20,000 patients are registered with them. An official says they have placed the order, but cannot tell certainly when medicines will arrive. Till then patients have no respite, while staff at these centres are worried about their own safety as the situation can go out of hand.