Srinagar: Even after the government failed to establish a drug de-addiction centre at the department of psychiatry, Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, four years after the proposal was put up, its assertion that de-addiction centres at district levels will be setup in next two months seems quite unrealistic.

The proposal sent by the department for the enhancement of manpower and the interior infrastructure was also forwarded by the then Principal GMC to the health ministry, however, the said proposal is as of now, gathering dust in the ministry, sources said.

Official sources say that given the fact that the proposal was submitted and was even approved at the lower rank, however, due to reasons better known to them, the file stands stuck in the offices, and there has been no development so far in this regard.

The department of psychiatry, which is also running a drug de-addiction centre within the premises of SMHS hospital has been time and again seeking additional manpower to make the functioning of the centre effective and timely.

While confirming submission of proposal, Dr. Zaid Wani, Associate Professor Department of Psychiatry said “Yes, the hospital had moved the proposal for additional manpower that is needed for the functioning of a full-fledged drug de-addition centre,” however, he added “they have received no feedback so far.”

Pertinently, Minister for Health and Medical Education Bali Bhagat, while interacting with civil society member in Rajouri on Friday said the government will be establishing de-addiction centres in all District Hospitals across the state within next two months. However, the ground situation depicts a different situation, where even the basic infrastructure for setting up de-addiction centres is absent.

Experts, however, are countering the view of the government of creating additional infrastructure—even if it is the creation of de-addiction centres—they suggest that the already existing man power should be properly trained when it comes to tackling de-addiction. “Why is there a need of creating additional infrastructure, when you are lacking the required manpower in already existing facilities,” said a doctor, adding “Why can’t they train the existing manpower in handling the addiction cases.

Experts further said that the creation of infrastructure is a long term plan, and what the ground situation demands is some immediate action, “which can only be addressed by training the manpower,” he said.

As per official sources, the government is going on rampantly creating infrastructure, without taking in account that it is already falling short of professional man power.

“For additional infrastructure what you need is additional manpower, which is missing, you do need people to run such facilities, where are they,” questioned sources.

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