No psychiatrist, govt-run hospitals turn away addicts

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, September 25

Belying the government’s claims of providing adequate help to drug addicts for their rehabilitation, two drug addicts on Sunday shuttled between various government hospitals of Sangrur to get treatment but the hospitals refused to admit them.

They had to go to a private de-addiction centre in Cheema town of the district after a local NGO, Youth Power Group, came forward to financially support them as they did not have the required money.

“On Sunday, I came to the Sangrur de-addiction centre at the civil hospital but it was locked. When I, along another addict Harwinder Singh (24), went to the emergency ward, they refused to admit us. Later, I went to the Ghabdan rehabilitation centre but there too, the doctors refused to treat us,” alleged Raj Kumar (23), who has been taking smack and other medicine drugs for the past two years.

When Kumar and Harwinder Singh were standing near the gate of the de-addiction centre, the NGO president, Vikramdeep Sidhu, saw them and tried to get them admitted to the Ghabdan centre but they were refused treatment again.

“All claims of the Punjab Government are only on paper. Since morning, we visited various hospitals but no one was ready to treat us. How can we shun drugs without getting admitted?” Harwinder Singh said.

After failing to get any help, Sidhu and other members of his NGO decided to get them admitted at a private de-addiction centre in Cheema town.

When contacted, Civil Surgeon, Sangrur, Dr Arun Gupta said the matter was in his knowledge.

“Since we do not have psychiatrists in our hospital, we are referring addicts to other districts. We have written to the Punjab Government in this regard,” he said.