Drug de-addiction in Punjab is as costly as a dose of drug

CHANDIGARH : Nothing comes for free. Not even the drug de-addiction. The thousnads of drug addicts in Punjab may not find it easy to get rid of the addiction since they have to pay almost same amount for a daily dose of drug and also for the medicine in the rehabilitiation centers opened by the state government.
he SAD-BJP government has created a myth that free treatrment was being given to drug addicts and thousands of drug addicts are treated in the rehabiliation centers. However, the picture is not as rosy as it has been painted.
Punjab Government was so far charging Rs.200 per day for a bed in the rehabilitation center and another Rs. 200 for medicine and food from the indoor patients. It is compulsary to get admission in the rehabiliation center and it takes a minimum of three months to start recovery from addiction. The period is even upto 6 months for chronic cases which are in majority. For minimum three months course it costs Rs.36,000 hospital expenses and for six months it costs Rs.72,000. Personal expenses of family visits and attendent are extra.
However Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has taken a decision to slash the admission charges from Rs.200 to Rs.50 per day to motivate the drug addicts to come to rehabiliation centers aftrer the facts came to light that most of drug addicts are not able to complete the de-addiction course. Those who cant affortd the costly treatment, get hooked to pharmaceutical drugs, easily available in the market at cheaper rates. An addict can survive at lesser rate than the cost of treatment.
Badal while presiding over the third meeting of the State Drug De-Addiction and Rehabilitation Board here at Punjab Bhawan this morning was reportedly told by members to subsidise the treatment. However, the charges for de-addiction would continue at the rate of Rs.200 per day, which would include cost of medicine, diet and all other expenses.
Taking part in the deliberations, the Chief Minister said that realizing the plight of the drug addicts and the agony of their parents and relatives, this conscious decision has been taken so that maximum people inflicted with drug addiction could seek the best treatment in these centres and could be properly rehabilitated to lead a life with self respect and dignity. Mr. Badal assured that the drug rehabilitation centres would be compensated for this deficit through Cancer and Drug De-addiction Treatment Infrastructure (CADA) fund.
The Chief Minister was also updated about the status of model drug de-addiction centres and was told that out of five drug de-addiction centres, four such centres at Bathinda, Faridkot, Jalandhar and Amritsar have been made functional and another centre at Patiala was under construction. Mr. Badal also asked the Chief Secretary to visit few central jails along with Additional Chief Secretary (Home), ADGP (Jails) and Director State Narcotics Control Bureau to examine the cases of prisoners/under-trails under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and submit the report within a month.
Emphasizing the need of publicity to bring awareness amongst the drug addicts about the availability of drug rehabilitation centres in the government sector, the Chief Minister said that a vigorous media campaign should be launched to educate the people about the latest facilities being offered to the drug addicts for their treatment in these centres.
Simultaneously, chairing the fourth meeting of State Cancer and Drug De-addiction Treatment Infrastructure Board, Mr. Badal was apprised by the Principal Secretary Health & Family Welfare that Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital at Sangrur and Advanced Cancer Centre in Baba Farid Medical University of Health Sciences, Faridkot were providing the latest diagnostic and treatment facilities to the cancer patients and the three other upcoming cancer treatment and research centres would be soon made operational in the Government Medical Colleges at Patiala and Amritsar besides an ultra modern 200 bedded Advanced Cancer Treatment and Research Centre at Bathinda.
She told Mr. Badal that Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital at Sangrur was commissioned on January 20, 2015 and nearly 1800 new patients have been given treatment for cancer, while chemotherapy was performed on about 2500 patients and about 15,000 laboratory tests have been done so far. A state-of-the-art linear accelerator has also been installed there, which would provide treatment to patients at 10% of the cost incurred in private hospitals.
To combat the challenge to eradicate breast cancer amongst the women, the Chief Minister also gave approval to install the facility of digital mammography in the Advanced Cancer Centre at Bathinda at the cost of Rs. 1.30 crore. The Chief Minister directed that one third of the tax on cigarettes should be credited to the CADA fund to provide for cancer treatment infrastructure.
The Chief Minister also called upon the NGOs to come forward and join hands with government to stamp out the menace of cancer and drug addiction from the state through sensitizing the people for early detection of cancer as well as the ill-effects of drug addiction.
Prominent amongst who attended these meetings included Chief Secretary Mr. Sarvesh Kaushal, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Mr. Jagpal Singh Sandhu, Principal Secretary Health & Family Welfare Mrs. Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary (Jails) Mr. Sanjay Singh, Secretary Medical Education & Research Mr. Husan Lal, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. K.J.S. Cheema, Technical Advisor Lt. Gen. (Retd.) B.S. Dhaliwal, ADGP (Prisons) Mr. M.K. Tiwari, Director State Narcotics Control Bureau IG Mr. Ishwer Chander, DIG (Prisons) Mr. Lakhwinder Singh Jakhar, Divisional Commissioner Patiala Mr. Ajeet Singh Pannu, Divisional Commissioner Jalandhar Mr. Harbax Singh Nanda, Divisional Commissioner Faridkot Mr. V.K. Meena, Secretary Higher Education Mr. Anurag Verma, Secretary Local Government Mr. D.K. Tiwari, Secretary Revenue Mr. Sameer Kumar, Secretary Rural Development and Panchayats Mr. Dipinder Singh, Special Secretary Finance Mr. Sukhwinder Singh, Director Social Security Mr. G.S. Sidhu, Vice Chancellor Baba Farid University of Health Sciences Dr. Raj Bahadur and Director Medical Education and Research Dr. Manjit Kaur Mohi.