Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday set up a two-member committee to prepare a comprehensive de-addiction and rehabilitation plan for victims of the drugs trade in the state, after studying the outreach model suggested by an eminent American drug therapist and consultant.
Underlining his commitment to the total eradication of drugs, backed by rehabilitation of the patients, Capt Amarinder acted quickly on the recommendations of Dr Kanwar Ajit Singh Sidhu to announce the setting up of a panel to study and consider the feasibility of the implementation of the Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) programme proposed by the US-based expert.
Capt Amarinder has asked the two-member committee, comprising Principal Secretary (Medical Education) and Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), to work closely with PGI specialists to develop a focused strategy to strengthen the state’s network of drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres.
The decision followed a presentation to the Chief Minister by Dr Sidhu, who said that the proposed OOAT model, focused on cure through compassion, was completely safe and designed to prevent future relapses.
The model envisages a system of specially-trained Duty Medical Officers to be deputed at each de-addiction and rehabilitation centre for the supervision of the five-stage OOAT treatment process, consisting of induction, stabilization, maintenance, termination and follow-up.
The Chief Minister, himself a strong proponent of compassionate de-addiction and rehabilitation, agreed with Dr Sidhu's observations, saying that the victims of drug abuse needed to be treated with compassion in order to bring them back into the mainstream of the society and enable them to lead a life of dignity.
Dr Sidhu’s low-cost model envisages a separate division to run the programme, which will involve the services of nearly 200 counsellors, besides outreach services of ASHA workers, MPW or ANM and peer volunteers.
Dr Sidhu informed the Chief Minister that training for the workers would be provided by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
As of 2016, Punjab has 33 government sponsored de-addiction centers and five tertiary care centers having a combined capacity of 600 beds with additional 1100 beds at rehabilitation centers.
The treatment provided at these centers is primarily based on the abstinence model (demand reduction) which starts with detoxification and abstinence based healing strategies. Opioid agonist treatment is used minimally and is concentrated to district headquarters only where psychiatrist is available.
In addition, there are around 70 private de-addiction centers in the state where both inpatient and opioid agonist treatment is available. Dr Sidhu said that these facilities are highly inadequate to tackle the problem of rehabilitation of drug addicts – a gap which OOAT will fill.