AIIMS-Delhi issues directions for sensitisation against drug abuse

To make the All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Delhi campus free of drug abuse, the hospital administration on Tuesday issued directions for sensitisation of staff members and students about various punitive provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

In an office memorandum, AIIMS Director M Srinivas asked all heads of departments to bring to the attention of the staff and students working under them the various provisions including that of fine and imprisonment under the NDPS Act.

He also instructed all security personnel not to allow patients, attendants, visitors and staff members to use drugs, in any form, in the hospital premises.

If outside personnel or any drug peddler found selling above mentioned drugs, the security personnel to be instructed to take video/photograph of the culprit and he/she should be handed over to the police immediately and completely banned from entering the AIIMS premises in near future, according to the memorandum.

Any contractual employee or security staff found indulging in this activity in the hospital premises will be handed over to the AIIMS police post and he or she shall be summary terminated from the service.

"If any permanent employee/doctor found indulging in these drugs in AIIMS New Delhi premises, he/ she will be issued a memo and a disciplinary action shall be taken against him/her," the memorandum states.

Employees, doctors and students wanting to seek help for substance use problems can still do so in the psychiatry OPD at AIIMS and will be provided treatment while maintaining confidentiality, it stated.

Treatment will not be linked to administrative action or punitive measures. To seek more information on preventive interventions, they could also contact the Students' Wellness Centre, it said.

The memorandum mentioned that the entire world, including many educational institutions, is facing the menace of drug addiction, which has a devastating impact on the addict, individual, family and a large section of society.

Our main objective intends to reach out to the masses and spread awareness about substance abuse, it said.

Under the NDPS Act, it is illegal for a person to produce/manufacture/cultivate, possess, sell, purchase, transport, store, and/or consume any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.

Anyone who contravenes the NDPS Act will face punishment based on the quantity of the banned substance, the document said.

"Where the contravention involves small quantity, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months, or with fine which may extend to Rs 10,000 or with both; where the contravention involves quantity lesser than commercial quantity but greater than small quantity, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years and with fine which may extend to Rs 1 lakh; where the contravention involves commercial quantity, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 10 years but which may extend to 20 years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than Rs 1 lakh but which may extend to Rs 2 lakh," the OM read.

The list under the NDPS Act mentions the names of all substances banned or controlled in India. Widely known drugs such as ganja, cocaine and heroin are mentioned in the list.