launching the second phase of Punjab Government’s unique drug abuse prevention officers (DAPO) initiative, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday said that a whopping 126 percent increase in the number of youth reporting for drug treatment at the OPDs showed the stupendous success of the Government’s efforts to wipe out the menace from the State.
“As against 1.82 lakh youngsters who reported at OPDs for treatment in 2016, the number had gone up to 4.12 lakh in 2017. And also as many as 5107 youth are being treated at the Government rehabilitation Centres and another 17,667 in the private hospitals,” he said while addressing the gathering during the event.
Reiterating the Congress Government’s zero tolerance to drugs, Capt Amarinder said that nobody found involved in spreading the menace of drugs would be spared, and the big fish would also soon be nabbed from wherever they had fled.
The Chief Minister also reiterated his vow to wean the youth away from drugs through positive government interventions, including uplift of the standards of education in the state.
Observing that low education levels was one of the factors contributing to frustration among youth thereby driving them towards negative influences such as drugs, the Chief Minister said that the State Government was according top priority to improving the education system in the state.
He reiterated his suggestion for a five percent cut each in the budget of all other departments to raise additional revenue for promoting and enhancing the standards of education.
He said that while the Special Task Force (STF) on Drugs is going all out to eliminate the scourge, it is the moral responsibility of every member of the society to fight this menace. He exhorted the people to join hands with the government in its battle against drugs, and in the rehabilitation of the affected youth.
Appreciating the efforts of the STF and the Health Department as reflected in the success of the DAPO programme, Capt Amarinder said that the people’s response show their support to this unique initiative. Of the 4.8 lakh DAPOs registered in the state so far, 26,000 were from Tarn Taran.
The Chief Minister also dedicated to the people ‘Nasha Roku Nigram Committees’, launched another unique Buddy Programme and also OOAT (Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment) Centres at 60 sub-divisions of the state.
The Chief Minister called for proactive efforts by all concerned to make the Buddy Programme, launched in schools for counseling against drugs, a success. The programme will cover all students from Class VI onwards, starting with Class IX in the first phase.
On the new OOAT Clinics, the Chief Minister pointed out that 29 clinics were already operational in the districts of Moga, Amritsar and Tarn Taran, with a total of more than 4400 patients registered so far. The retention rate at these clinics was as high as 86 percent, he said.
The Chief Minister also announced opening of 60 OOAT clinics now in the remaining districts, besides in all the central jails. “The clinics would remain open all seven days a week. As many as 150 medical officers, and 160 counsellors and nurses have, so far, been trained for these clinics, where HIV and TB testing is also provided,” he said.