Punjab's private drug rehab centres facing closure
Darpan News Desk IANS, 09 Feb, 2023 12:58 PM
Chandigarh, Feb 9 (IANS) The Punjab Drug Rehabilitation Centres Union (PDRCU) on Thursday sought intervention of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to review a policy of the previous Congress government that has brought such centres being run in the private sector to the verge of closure.
Members of the special committee set up by the PDRCU said they have given many representations to officials of the Health Department to revoke the policy.
Kunal Lakhanpal, a member of the committee, said: "In 2020 the then Congress government mandated that every rehab centre should have a psychiatrist, an MBBS doctor and a nurse on its payroll. It is illogical as no medicine is to be given at these centres. We admit people after detoxification. Such people are provided counselling. The idea is to make them mentally strong so that they don't fall prey to drugs again."
Another member said Angad Singh said that the policy lead to high operating costs, which "we cannot meet given the fact that we run small centres and the fee charged from patients is also bare minimum as the affected families, by and large, are poor".
Under the policy, some private rehab centres have already been served with closure notices. Some have even closed. There are cases where rehab centres have shifted from Punjab and set up bases in neighbouring states.
Another committee member Sanjeev Sharma said: "In case the policy is enforced in its current form, 74 private rehab centres will be shut down."
The accused were identified as Neelam (35), Sunita (35), Neeta (34) and Savitri (34). DCP (Dwarka) M. Harsh Wardhan said the staff of Anti-Narcotics Cell received a secret information that some women sell drugs at Indira market near Anaj Mandi, Najafgarh.
According to the official, the main accused, Abhishek Chhabra was running the fake call-centre for the last one month. The victims of the scam are mainly the people residing in the foreign countries.
13 people have been arrested in the case so far after the first arrest was made on May 30, a day after the murder of Moosewala. Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar, who is a member of the Bishnoi gang, had claimed responsibility for Moosewala's murder.
Senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing Sharma, contended that new FIRs are being registered, and added that they will pick her up. The bench said: "No coercive action to be taken against present or future FIRs in relation to the same telecast..."
The hospital said that the patient was offered admission but she did not return with the admission paper. The next day the Senior Resident on morning GRR duty was informed that a patient was delivering outside. A team from GRR was dispatched immediately and the patient's delivery was taken care of, reads the statement issued by the hospital.
Presiding over a meeting here with representatives of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Doaba) and the Sandhar Sugar Mill of Phagwara, the minister categorically directed the officers concerned to ensure that of the Rs 72 crore payment due (since the last three years) towards the farmers, Rs 22 crore must be realized soon and credited into the accounts of farmers by selling the property of the mill at Bhuna in Haryana.
