A day after inauguration, de-addiction centres lie closed

Employees yet to be deployed, infrastructure still incomplete, say officials

The de-addiction centre at the Civil Hospital, Malout, that was inaugurated by Health Minister Surjit Jyani on Monday lies locked on Tuesday.

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Malout, December 22

The state government boasts of successfully running the de-addiction drive but the reality is a far cry. For instance, a 50-bed de-addiction and rehabilitation centre at Thehri village and another 10-bed de-addiction centre at the Civil Hospital in Malout — inaugurated yesterday by Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani — were lying closed today.

The reason is there is acute shortage of staff in the Health Department and the district health authorities are unable to run these centres. Officials concerned admitted that the de-addiction centre at the Malout Civil Hospital was inaugurated in a hurry and the construction work was incomplete. A senior doctor said the 50-bed de-addiction and rehabilitation centre inaugurated at Thehri village on the Malout-Gidderbaha road was facing acute shortage of staff. “Just six paramedics have been appointed, which include four women. Despite knowing that a permanent doctor is required to run the rehabilitation centre, an additional charge has been given to the psychiatrist posted at the Civil Hospital, Malout,” the doctor said.

He said, “It is not an easy job to deal with drug addicts. There should be some male staff at the de-addiction and rehabilitation centre. Not even a single security guard has been deployed there. Similarly, there is no sweeper deployed as of now.”

Meanwhile, a visit to the Civil Hospital Malout revealed that the de-addiction centre was lying closed. Even patients, who were shown to the health minister yesterday, were not present there. Dr Sandeep Gilhotra, Senior Medical Officer , Malout, said, “The building of the centre opened at Malout is incomplete, thus the patients have been shifted to another ward. It will take nearly 10 days for its completion.”

Courtesy: The Tribune