Two 50-bed drug de-addiction centres to come up in Punjab

In an attempt to help drug addicts return to normal life, the Punjab government will set up two drug de-addiction centres in the state by the end of this year.
The well-equipped 50-bed centres will be established in Jalandhar and Bathinda by December 31 this year, an official release said today.
A decision to this effect was taken by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal while presiding over a meeting of the Punjab State Cancer and Drug Addiction (CADA) Treatment Infrastructure Board here, the release said.
At the meeting, it was also decided that another two 50- bed drug de-addiction centres will be constructed at Patiala and Baba Farid University campus soon, it said.

The state government will also set up 22 special rehabilitation centres, one each in every district, where the patients would be admitted after detoxification in Drug De-Addiction Centres (DDCs), the release said.
Also, the Chief Minister asked the Health Department to work out a strategy to provide medicines to the eight DDCs in jails of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda, Faridkot and Ferozepur, it said.
At present, the jail authorities purchase the drug directly.