Illegal rehab centres to be closed down

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 18

Unauthorised rehabilitation centres running without mandatory registration with the Himachal Pradesh State Mental Health Authority (HPSMHA) will be shut. Rehabilitation centres have mushroomed in the state, especially in Una and Nalagarh, and people are running these centres without following proper norms, said Dr Sanjay Pathak, CEO, HPSMHA.

“All de-addiction and rehab centres being mental health establishments and drug addiction being a mental illness under the Mental Health Care Act, these centres are required to be registered with the HP State Mental Health Authority. So far, 42 de-addiction and rehab centres have been given provisional registration,” Dr Pathak told mediapersons here.

He said that all these 42 centres were functioning in the private sector and the provisional registration would be valid for six months during which these centres would have to meet the minimum standards required. The permanent registration would be granted only to those de-addiction and rehab centres that fulfil the minimum standards laid down by the authority.

“The minimum standards have been uploaded on the website of the Himachal Hospital of Mental Health and Rehabilitation, Shimla. These standards have been defined in terms of infrastructure, manpower and WHO-recommended treatment protocols and rehabilitation plan, as per the Rehabilitation Council of India,” he said. An inspection team under the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the district consisting of an SDM and the DSP of the area and a psychiatrist had been constituted and it would inspect the centres and submit a report to the HPSMHA, he added.