Hooked to de-addiction medicines, the addicts in Punjab can now look forward to alternative medicines for cure of their malady. The Punjab Government is seriously considering to involve the homeopathic doctors in its campaign for drug de-addiction.Punjab Government is considering the proposal of injecting homeopathy treatment for the drug addicts as it would be “effective and cheaper than allopathic drugs”.What is more! The drug addicts, undergoing de-addiction process, are tend to get dependent on allopathic drugs, which was not in case of homeopathy.
“Homeopathy is quite effective and safe in treating the drug addicts. The patients don’t get addicted to homeopathic medicines and it is quite helpful in managing withdrawal symptoms as compared to ayurvedic medicines,” a senior health official told The Pioneer.The official said that the ayurveda does not have any specific line of treatment for the addicts with synthetic drugs, but the addicts of alcohol, opium, cannabis, tobacco can be treated with ayurvedic medicines.
For this, the government is mulling over including the Ayurvedic Medical Officers in the de-addiction treatment in addition to the allopathic drugs. Besides, the services of Homeopathic Medical Officers will also be utilized in drug de-addiction centres.“With this, the patients will have the choice of the systems of medicines and also the medical doctors will also have the support of ayurveda and homeopathy doctors for better treatment to the addicts,” said the official.
Over the past few years, Punjab has upgraded its ayurvedic and homeopathic infrastructure in view of the growing popularity of the two. The state has a 100-bedded Government Ayurvedic College and Hospital at Patiala under the Department of Medical Education. Besides, there are five Ayurvedic Hospitals and 524 ayurvedic dispensaries.In terms of workforce, a director-level officer is heading a team of one joint director, 19 District Ayurvedic and Unani officers, 17 Senior Ayurvedic Physicians, 322 Ayurvedic or Unani Medical Officers and 280 up-vaids.
As far as homeopathic infrastructure is concerned, there are 111 homeopathic dispensaries across Punjab with a joint director level officer heading the Homeopathic Department. Besides, there are 15 District Homeopathic Officers, 50 Homeopathic Medical Officers and 100 Homeopathic Dispensers.In addition, 100 homeopathic medical officers and 99 homeopathic dispensers are working under the National Health Mission (NHM).
Punjab has witnessed as many as three lakh drug users approaching its de-addiction centres, set up across the state, as outdoor patients after the state government had launched a massive awareness and treatment campaign for identification and treatment of substance users in 2014.This is not all! More than 12,000 patients have been admitted in various de-addictions centres across the state.Facing fire from rival and even friendly political parties for its failure to deal with drug menace in the State, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) led Punjab Government has launched a multi-pronged strategy to salvage its image, especially after the issue affected its performance in the 2014 lok Sabha polls.
Alarmed, it went on to set up 31 drug de-addition centres in 14 district level hospitals, 13 sub-divisional hospitals, and four at other places. In addition, five tertiary care drug de-addition centres — one each at Patiala, Amritsar, Faridkot, Bathinda and Jalandhar.For setting up the drug de-addiction centres, the state government has incurred an expenditure of around Rs 43.60 crores.The government has also set up 21 50-bedded rehabilitation centres — one each at district headquarters with one common for newly-formed Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts — at a cost of Rs 90 crore.