Curing addicts through homoeopathy, ayurveda
Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 1
To contain the drug addiction monster that has been ruining the lives of the Punjab youth, the state Health department has decided to put to use ancient and time-tested therapies like ayurveda and homoeopathy on a par with allopathy treatment.
Not only this, the Punjab government is also mulling to introduce homoeopathy in 28 jails of the state for the treatment of inmates.
A detailed proposal in this connection has been sent by Dr Ramesh Kumar Sharda, Director of Homoeopathy, Punjab, to the Health department.
Sharda said since homoeopathic treatment was symptomatic, it could prove very useful for de-addiction. “The addiction among people has its genetic roots and could be considered to be congenital malady in case children aged 14 to 15 years indulged in substance abuse. They have craving for alcohol or opium, but we have potent treatment for addicts,” he said.
Vikas Garg, Special Secretary, Health, Punjab, said, “The two pathies—our own ayurveda and homoeopathy—have proved to be quite useful among addicts. We are now focusing on these two mediums to cure our youths.”
Garg said as the menace was threatening the future of the state, the department was making all-out efforts to tackle it. He said the family members of the affected youth could avail treatment from district or sub-divisional government homoeopathic or ayurvedic dispensaries after paying nominal registration fee.
That ayurveda and homoeopathy were found to be quite useful was evident from the fact that 7,763 addicts/patients were treated by government homoeopathic hospitals and dispensaries and 838 by ayurveda facilities in Punjab last year.
The two treatments are all set to be introduced at the de-addiction centres in at least eight model jails at Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda, Faridkot and Ferozepur.
As many as 22,669 drug addiction patients had been treated, 461 were undergoing detoxification and 718 of them were in rehabilitation wards of various state jails, an official said.
Dr Rakesh Sharma, Director, Ayurveda, Punjab, said treatment for drug addicts was available at all 443 rural and 67 urban government-run dispensaries. “Treating addiction of one and all substances has been a major component of ayurvedic science since ages. We have certain classic medicines to cure alcohol, marijuana and opium addiction,” he said.
