CM sets up advisory board for drug de-addiction, rehab

Shimla: Chief minister (CM) Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday announced the constitution of a state-level advisory board for de-addiction and rehabilitation.
The initiative, to be headed by the CM, aims at streamlining the activities of various line departments on substance abuse to ensure an integrated approach towards drug menace. The CM also declared the ‘Centre of Excellence of Mental Health’ at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, as the state-level nodal institution for de-addiction and rehabilitation.
He said opioid substitution therapy centre would be established at all medical colleges and district hospitals of the state. Besides this, the ‘School Health Mission’ would be implemented in the state in collaboration with the departments of education and health, he added.
The CM, while addressing one-day-long state-level workshop on ‘Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition and De-addiction’, said the state govt would prepare an action plan for addressing the nutritional concerns of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating mothers and children up to the age of six years, besides working on drug abuse prevention, de-addiction and rehabilitation. Sukhu also directed the social justice and empowerment department to formulate a mechanism to ensure the well being of expectant women and their new born up to the age of one year. The first 1,000 days of new born babies are critical, therefore, their health is the priority for the state govt, he said, adding that the govt was also contemplating to delegate powers for the procurement of nutritional supplements, ensuring good quality of food items being provided to the eligible pregnant women and lactating mothers. Sukhu directed the officers to formulate the standard operating procedure on this issue. The CM said the state govt had initiated a crackdown on drug mafia in the state and many of the culprits had been nabbed and their properties had been seized.