The youngsters of Chandigarh are drowning in drugs and the parents are banging their heads seeing their children in a miserable state. In most of the cases, the youngsters start taking drugs in someone else’s influence. Gradually that changes into addiction and the youngsters land themselves in a frustrated state when they don’t get their dose of drugs.
Due to the increasing number of drug addicts in the city, the hospitals in Chandigarh have also started recording increase in patients who are visiting drug de-addiction centres. There are 3 drug de-addiction centres in Chandigarh:
- GMCH Sector 32 Chandigarh,
- GMSH Sector 16 Chandigarh and
- PGIMER Sector 12 Chandigarh.
These drug de-addiction centres witness a lot of drug patients from the neighbouring states.
The Increasing Number Of Drug Addicts
The head of the department of psychiatry at GMSH Sector 16 Chandigarh said that the hospital has recorded an increase in the OPD numbers. He said that there are a lot of drug addict patients coming from Chandigarh and Punjab. The average age of these drug addict youngsters is above 16 years old and most of them are addicted to drugs like alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, opioid etc.
The same is the case in GMCH Sector 32 Chandigarh. A lot of drug addicts from Punjab and Chandigarh go to GMCH. Though the drug de-addiction awareness has been increased and the youngsters have started realising that the disease can be treated medically. The city also has got a lot of facilities to treat such diseases and if we rewind ten years back, there not no awareness and the diseases were considered as bad and social habits.
Increasing Drug Addicts, No Increase In The Beds At Drug De-Addiction Centres
The authorities at GMCH Sector 32 Chandigarh said that the patients at the drug de-addiction centres at rapidly increasing. The number of patients in OPD (Out Patients Department) and IPD (In Patients Department) month wise:
- January – 39 (OPD)
- February – 40 (OPD), 12 (IPD)
- March- 43 (OPD), 16 (IPD)
There are various drug awareness camps organised by the GMCH where the doctors meet the drug-addicts. Most of the drug addict patients told the doctors that they never went for any kind of treatment to get de-addicted from drugs. It proves that there is a problem in our city and the problem is increasing at a fast pace. The increase in the drug problem in the city is becoming a matter of concern.
With the increase in the number of drug addicts, the drug de-addiction centres are facing a big problem. There are only limited number of beds at the de-addiction centres due to which a lot of patients are put on the waiting list. As the number of drug addicts in the city is increasing, the facilities also need to be upgraded so that the drug addicts are properly treated.
Source: Indian Express
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