At PGIMS, number of drug addicts rises

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, July 20

There has been a sharp increase in the number of drug addicts visiting the State Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (SDDTC) located on the premises of the PGIMS indicates that like Punjab, indicating a Punjab-like situation.

As per official figures, the number of drug addicts visiting the centre increased from 448 in 2007 to 4,318 by 2017-end, recording nearly 10-fold increase.

This year, 2,999 addicts visited the centre till June.

A perusal of the records bring out that the maximum number of patients visiting the centre are addicted to alcohol, followed by opioids (opium and its derivatives such as smack and heroin), cannabinoids (bhang, charas, ganja and hashish), tobacco and sedatives.

“A number of patients abuse injectable as well as orally consumable medical drugs such as painkillers, sedatives and cough syrups. The quacks operating in rural and semi-urban areas give such drugs and injections to their patients for monetary gains,” said Dr Sunila, a consultant at the centre.

She further said that thanks to increased awareness about the hazards of drug abuse, several women had started visiting the centre for de-addiction. The patients are treated with the help of medication and counselling.

Dr Rajiv Gupta, in charge of the SDDTC, admitted that the number of patients addicted to drugs had shown a steady increase in the past decade. “Several measures are being taken to check the menace.”

“The drug de-addiction centre has been upgraded to the State Drug Dependence Treatment Centre and the process to augment the infrastructure and increase the staff strength is in progress. We are preparing a policy for the rehabilitation of drug addicts. Soon, a screening lab to assess the consumption of drugs by a person will come up,” Dr Gupta added.