Chandigarh, July 30, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
Underlining the need to check unregulated distribution of medication to check drug abuse, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday directed the 3-member committee set up to probe the missing five crore tablets of the drug de-addiction drug buprenorphine naloxone to expedite the investigation.
The committee, constituted on June 29, comprises STF chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu and Director, Health Services, Dr Avneet Kaur.
Chairing a Video Conference meeting to review Drug Deaddiction & Treatment Infrastructure, the Chief Minister asked the Special Task Force (STF) on drugs to expand the outreach of the OOAT clinics in order to ensure timely and proper treatment and care to drug addicts.
The state currently has 190 Government OOAT Centres, in addition to 119 private de-addiction centres and another nine centres in jails. A total of 5,50,907 patients were admitted to these centres from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. The months of April and May 2020 had witnessed a major spike in admissions as supply of drugs and other substances was cut off due to the lockdown.
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The Chief Minister underscored the importance of counselling for youth at these centres, pointing out that psychological support could prove vital to ensure their treatment and cure.
Reiterating his commitment to the elimination of drugs into the state, Captain Amarinder said while the backbone of the drugs mafia had been broken and many big fish also nabbed, the growing narco-terrorism from across the border was a matter of concern.
Coupled with smuggling of drugs from other states into Punjab, this was becoming a major challenge, he said, calling for cohesive and collective efforts by all the concerned departments to crack down on the drugs problem.
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