By IANS,
Chandigarh : A nodal agency has been set up by the Chandigarh administration to curb the menace of drug addiction among the youth in the region, a spokesperson of the administration said here Monday.
“Department of social welfare has been declared the nodal agency to identify the non government organizations (NGOs) and social workers for providing counselling to the drug-addicts in all the dispensaries and public health centres (PHCs), in collaboration with health department, Chandigarh,” said the spokesperson.
“Twenty-two councillors have been imparted necessary training by the experts of Psychiatry department of Government medical college and hospital, Sector 32 (GMCH-32) to enable them to provide quality services to the target group,” said the spokesperson.
One room along with the necessary infrastructure will be provided to these councillors at every dispensary and PHC to facilitate them in their work, pointed out the spokesperson.
GMCH-32 has earmarked 10 beds in its existing building and Government multi-specialty hospital, Sector 16 would be setting up a de-addiction centre with capacity of 15 beds besides two private rooms for the cause.
“Our main thrust is to educate the addicts, bring them to the counselling centres and then, after the required analysis of the case, treat them at the hospitals, free of cost,” said the spokesperson.
The spokesperson added that the field staff of the integrated child development scheme (ICDS), Chandigarh has also been engaged to identify the drug addicts in their respective areas, so that maximum number of addicts could be treated under this programme.
Medical officer of the dispensary concerned will be the nodal officer. He will make all necessary arrangements for transportation in referral cases for extensive treatment in the main hospitals, said the spokesperson.