‘De-addiction centres took few new admissions’

This was done to curb virus spread; drug syndicate was disrupted during lockdown, says NGO

The addicts were restless after they were unable to find drugs, and after a few days they started developing health problems.

New admissions were discouraged at de-addiction centres during the lockdown to prevent spread of virus in other patients.

Amod Kanth, founder secretary of NGO Prayas that runs de-addiction centres and shelter homes, said that the entire drug syndicate got disrupted during the lockdown.

The addicts were restless after they were unable to find drugs and after a few days they started developing health problems.

“Entry of new admission at drug addictions centres were barred to prevent the virus spread. We hardly took any new admission during the lockdown. In case of any emergency situation, the admission was taken only after following all COVID-19-related health protocols and tests,” said Mr. Kanth.

He added that they also run several shelter homes for homeless people. He revealed that among the homeless, around 30% are drug addicts. “We tried to treat them at our 40 shelter homes in the city, unless there was any complication and the patients needed to be referred to hospital or de-addiction centres,” Mr. Kanth said.

Turned violent

A police officer said that during the lockdown, drugs addicts who were shifted to shelters homes turned violent after they didn’t find drugs for a long time. In some cases, they had to deploy extra force to keep them inside the shelter home.

“It was tough to deal with drug addicts because after they failed to find it during the lockdown period, they started fighting with civil defence volunteers and policemen. In a few cases, we sent them to government-run de-addiction centres,” said the officer.

Hari Gupta (name changed) said that he got his son admitted to a hospital after he witnessed severe behavioural changes in him, after few days of the lockdown. Initially, we thought he might be under job stress but his behaviour turned aggressive. The doctor at the hospital said that he a drug addict.

“Initially, we were shocked to find out that our child was a drug addict, but the doctors promised that he will be fine soon. My son is under medication and we never leave him alone. Fearing of COVID-19 infection and other hygiene issues, we haven’t got him admitted to a de-addiction centre,” said Mr. Gupta.