The district lacks proper facilities and adequate number of drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres to cater to the registered patients. Therefore, the residents are left with no choice, and opt for private centres that charge exorbitantly.
Civil hospitals in Jagroan, Samrala and Ludhiana have de-addiction centres and there is one rehabilitation in Jagraon. These three units are ten bedded each, and rehab centre has a capacity 50 beds against a registered patient strength of 11,000. While, the health department officials claim that even these are not occupied to capacity. People chose private centres due to better infrastructure and facilities, they added. There are 32 private de-addiction and four rehabs working in the district, and the patients from the district are also going to private facilities in Patiala and Panchkula, said officials.
Deputy medical commissioner Amarjeet Kaur said, “The units remain unoccupied close to half the capacity as people were hesitant to admit the patients in government centres.” She said the change of immediate physical environment for a patient after being admitted in a centre, affects a lot in the overall process. The health department runs 47 outpatient opioid-assisted treatment (OOAT) centres where the registered patients can get their prescribed medicines, she added.
A drug rehabilitation expert Dr Inderjit Dhingra said the prevalence of private centres prove that people are going for treatment as the government centres couldn’t provide enough facilities. While the treatment at the government centre will be completely free, including lodging and food, the private facilities charge ₹4,000 rupees per day on average, he added.
{{/usCountry}}A drug rehabilitation expert Dr Inderjit Dhingra said the prevalence of private centres prove that people are going for treatment as the government centres couldn’t provide enough facilities. While the treatment at the government centre will be completely free, including lodging and food, the private facilities charge ₹4,000 rupees per day on average, he added.
{{/usCountry}}Dhingra said these centres require recreational facilities like grounds and indoor games, to keep the patients occupied, which is very important when coming off drugs. But, these centres lack these facilities and private ones keep special care of the patients by providing different approaches to different patients, he added.
“The centres have a one-way approach. Some patients, depending on their addiction level need more dosage of medicines. A person who consumed three gm of smack can’t be treated with the dose which is given to the consumer of half gm,” he said.
According to Harsimran Kaur, psychiatrist at Civil Hospital deaddiction centre, de-addiction centres are the primary care units for those coming off drugs. She said, there is a 21-day course, in which a patient is admitted and detoxified of the substances he had been abusing. After this period, patients are sent to rehab, where they are counselled and brought back to drug-free life, she added.
Civil Surgeon Dr Jasbir Singh Aulakh, said the patients didn’t want to be admitted and even the ones going to private centres were mostly availing OPD treatments.