Giving a fillip to its de-addiction facilities in Ernakulam, the Excise department, under its Vimukthi campaign, is gearing up to set up a de-addiction centre exclusively for women and children at the Thripunithura taluk hospital shortly.
Once operational, the new facility will take the number of the department’s de-addiction centres in the district to three. Ernakulam will be the only district with three de-addiction centres in the State.
“The Public Works department is constructing a ward assigned for de-addiction centre in the new block of the taluk hospital. It is likely to turn operational later this year. There is a huge demand for de-addiction facilities in Ernakulam considering the large number of cases registered here, the volume of drugs being seized, and the high number of bars,” said Bibin George, district coordinator, Vimukthi Mission.
Vimukthi Mission’s first de-addiction centre was set up at the Muvattupuzha General Hospital in 2018 followed by a centre at the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Kalamassery, earlier this year. While the Muvattupuzha centre has capacity to treat 10 in-patients at a time, it is 15 for the one at MCH. When completed, the centre at Thripunithura will also have a capacity of 15 with scope for scaling it up to 20 at a time.
“Both the existing centres operate to full capacity every month since the treatment is free. Considering that the treatment is a continuous process, and that a 21-day course may cost anywhere between ₹15,000 and ₹20,000 in the private sector, it is not affordable for families already hit by drug addiction of its members. Therefore, the demand for service is always beyond the capacity of the existing centres. When the centres here are full, we refer patients to centres in the neighbouring Thrissur and Kottayam districts,” said Mr. George.
The Muvattupuzha centre has 10-member-strong staff — a medical officer, a clinical psychologist, a psychiatric social worker, a consultant psychiatrist, and three nursing and security staff each. The upcoming Thripunithura facility will have the same staff pattern. The centre at the MCH being run under the psychiatry department is headed by the principal with the head of the department in charge of treatment, two psychiatry assistant professors, and one each clinical psychologist and psychiatric social worker.
“Mostly youngsters aged under 25 years approach our de-addiction centres for cannabis dependence syndrome and polysubstance dependence syndrome, while those reported for alcohol dependency syndrome are mostly aged above 30. The abuse of opioid substitution therapy meant for reining in HIV infection among substance abusers in the habit of injecting drugs has also emerged as a grave concern,” said Mr. George.
The absence of a rehabilitation centre remains a major challenge for successfully rehabilitating and bringing back addicts to normal life. Kerala has no such centre now. Considering the high investment it entails in terms of infrastructure, space, and manpower, it is unlikely anytime soon considering the financial crisis being faced by the government. The absence of adequate number of clinical psychologists accredited by the Rehabilitation Council of India also remains an issue.
