10 more drug de-addiction centres will be set up in Punjab

Punjab government will set up ten more drug de-addiction centres in the state, taking their number to 31.
Vikas Garg, Special Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Punjab, here today disclosed this after visiting local de-addiction centre in Civil hospital and interacting with patients.
He said five new centres, with each having 50-bed capacity, will be set up in state's Government Medical Colleges and Hospitals in Bathinda, Jalandhar, Faridkot, Patiala and Amritsar.
The remaining five will be set up at other places which he did not specify.
Garg said 21 such centres had already been set up in state, with one each in every district with Pathankot and Gurdaspur districts getting clubbed.

Around two lakh Out Patient Department (OPD) and 8,000 In Patient Department (IPD) cases were handled in these centres so far, he claimed, adding, all these centres were adequately equipped with medical staff.

"The shortage of para-medical staff was being overcome by recruiting 250 para-medicos by end of this month," he said.
Garg said that for providing a dignified life to the de-addicted patients, as many as 22 Rehabilitation centres will also be set up in state.
"These centres will start functioning in next two-three months," he said.
Garg informed that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been signed regarding the proposed Cancer hospital in Hoshiarpur.

"The process was on for this Central government project," he said.