Punjab right on rehab centres, not patients

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 22

Punjab, in the past two years, spent about Rs 100 crore on building drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres, but did precious little to get addicts to these centres. 

With the issue taking centrestage, the then SAD-BJP government decided on an action plan, spending Rs 27 crore on constructing 33 de-addiction centres and Rs 62 crore on rehabilitation centres. But it stopped right there.

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Data available with The Tribune reveals that in 2016,  8,533 patients were treated at 33 de-addiction centres across the state. As each of these centres has a bed strength of 370, it means every centre admitted 250 patients. This number dwindled further this year.

Information on “patient admission” obtained from the field shows that the de-addiction centres at Patti, Sarhali and Sangrur did not get a single patient, despite high prevalence of addiction in these areas.

As on April 17, the Kapurthala centre had 10 patients,  Bathinda and Abohar centres eight patients each, Faridkot seven, Ferozepur and Dasuya five each, Phagwara four, Fazilka three and Ropar one.

One reason for the failure of these centres is their distance from hospitals, claimed sources. The situation at the rehabilitation centres was no better with just one patient at Faridkot, four each at Ferozepur and Bathinda, five at Fazilka, seven at Gurdaspur, 13 at Ludhiana and 20 at Kapurthala.  

Besides the Rs 61.89 crore that went into building these centres, Rs 2 crore was spent on infrastructure, Rs 44 lakh on medicine supply and Rs 3.2 crore on salaries of employees.

“The poor admission rate does not mean the number of addicts in the state is low. Private centres are admitting patients more than their capacity. Owing to the disinterest of officials at the government centres, these have now become a white elephant,” said a senior functionary.

Despite several attempts, Dr HS Bali, Director, Health Services, Punjab, could not be contacted for comment.

Staff of 15 for lone patient

Muktsar: The 50-bed de-addiction and rehabilitation centre inaugurated with much fanfare at Thehri village in the district about one-and-a-half-years ago is proving to be a white elephant. Reason: There are 15 staff members for the lone patient. The department has even reduced the fee of Rs 200 per day to Rs 50. Still, the centre wears a deserted look. TNS