Mandatory dope test gets costlier for arms licence

Perneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 18

The state government has almost doubled the user charges for dope test for applicants of arms licences in government hospitals under the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) from the existing Rs 800 to Rs 1,500. Along with it, the government has also increased the number of intoxicants for which applicants will be screened from the existing 5 to 10.

An order issued by Anjali Bhawra, Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, said the dope test included medical examination and basic lab test. “The dope test for arms licence shall include screening for Morphine, Codeine, D Propoxyphene, Benzodiazepines, 9-Tetra Hydro Cannabinol (THC), Barbiturates, Cocaine, Amphetamines, Buprenorphine and Tramadol,” reads the order dated April 17. With the new charges coming into effect, the process to conduct dope test at the civil hospital here has come to a halt as the authorities are now waiting for new test kits to arrive.

Talking to The Tribune, Resham Singh, senior medical lab technician at the civil hospital, said, “We have not conducted any dope test on Wednesday in view of the fresh orders from the state government. We are now waiting for the new dope test kits through which the applicants will be screened for 10 intoxicants instead of 5 earlier.”

He revealed that they were carrying out dope test of not more than 50 applicants daily as they were not equipped to handle a bigger number in a single day. He said the applicants for arms licence would now have to wait for the arrival of new kits to undergo dope test. Civil Surgeon HN Singh said they hoped to receive the new kits soon and the dope tests were expected to resume from Monday. As many as 506 arms licence applicants have underwent dope tests at the Civil Hospital since January 25 after the district administration had decided to implement guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs to grant arms licences. According to an estimate, the state has almost over 4.3-lakh licenced weapons.

As per the new arms rules notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Justice in July 2016, an applicant needs to be examined for mental health and physical fitness with “clear mention that the applicant is not dependent on any intoxicating or narcotic substance”