5 new OOAT clinics to come up in Rupnagar: Minister
Five new outpatient opioid assisted treatment (OOAT) clinics will come up in Rupnagar district. This was stated by Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh during a meeting at the District Administrative Complex in Rupnagar recently. Naya Nangal, Purkhali, Solkhian, Ghanauli, and Lokheri are the five locations being assessed internally.
He said additional beds were also being arranged in the state’s drug de-addiction centres so that every patient could get quality treatment. The minister had recently announced to upscale the capacity of a de-addiction centre in Mohali from 50 to 70 beds.
Rupnagar Deputy Commissioner Varjeet Singh Walia said the existing 10-bed de-addiction centre at Ropar would become 40-bed facility, while another such centre was being planned for Anandpur Sahib.
The minister said more OOAT clinics were being set up for the convenience of patients so that youth addicted to drugs do not have to go to far-flung areas to get medicine. After providing treatment at drug de-addiction centres, patients were imparted training in skill development, he added.
The government was also coordinating with hospitals in the private sector to provide treatment to drug patients in the state, officials said. They said 15-member committees of the Health Department had been formed in each village to coordinate with the administration and the police in the state government’s war against drugs.
Meanwhile, Dr Balbir Singh instructed officials of the Local Government Department, Health Department, Rural Development and Panchayat Department, Water Supply and Sanitation Department to start fogging on a large scale from April 21 to prevent incidence of dengue, chikungunya and malaria. The minister said the government had decided to make cards under the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme to provide free treatment up to Rs 10 lakh to the needy citizens.
Rupnagar MLA Dinesh Chadha and SSP Gulneet Singh Khurana were present on the occasion.
Punjab