Kapurthala gets five more OOAT clinics, total 15 now

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Jalandhar, May 18

With an aim to deliver youths from the menace of drugs, five new OOAT centres were started at Kapurthala on Wednesday. Civil Surgeon Dr Gurinderbir Kaur today said the clinics will prove beneficial in rescuing youths from the tentacles of drugs. The Civil Surgeon said this while inaugurating one of the clinics at the urban PHC Raika Mohalla. The civil surgeon said while earlier 10 OOAT clinics were being run in the district, with the addition of five more today the total number of these clinics in Kapurthala has reached 15 now. The OOAT programme had been started by the government in the state in 2018.

Deputy Medical Commissioner Kapurthala and psychiatrist Dr Sandeep Bhola said, “While the OOAT programme was started in 2018, the clinics have been expanded as per government’s expansion plans of the OOAT Programme. In Kapurthala the drug de-addiction centre had started in 2007 and since then 15,000 people who had been addicted to drugs have taken treatment at the de-addiction centre. The aim is to make OOAT treament available in nearest possible areas for drug dependents.”

The five new OOAT clinics have been started at urbans PHCs at Raika Mohalla and Hadihabad (Phagwara) as well as PHCs at Dhilwan, Maqsoodpur and Didwindi.

While cutting the ribbon during the inauguration of the new OOAT clinics, the Civil Surgeon instructed that patients turning up the centre must be dealt with politely.

She said the state government is providing a better life for youths stuck in drugs. Appeals were made to youths on the occasion to not indulge in drugs and try and advise their friends and peer groups to steer clear of the malaise of drugs too.