Shillong, Aug 23: Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh said the state’s healthcare institutions are not yet equipped to handle the complex health issues arising from drug addiction.
To address this, the government is working on establishing efficient health facilities that can provide long-term care and treatment for individuals struggling with addiction.
“Drugs in the state of Meghalaya is shortly scaling to alarming heights and as a concerned health minister, I am also well seized of facts that even our health institutions are not yet equipped to handle the complex health treatment that is involved for the redressal and solutions of these growing problems.
We are working on it. We are trying our best to ensure that in as short a time as possible, we should have at least an efficient rolling health facility that can address this problem,” Lyngdoh told reporters on Friday.
She announced that an inter-departmental committee has been constituted, comprising representatives from the departments of health, social welfare, and education to develop a comprehensive plan to tackle the drug problem.
“(As members of the committee) they will jointly pen down what are the compulsory steps that need to be taken immediately (to address this issue),” the minister said.
Lyngdoh also mentioned the possibility of redeploying existing medical facilities, such as Community Health Centres (CHCs), to provide treatment for drug addiction.
“I am already in touch with institutes which are today redundant in our community. For example if there is a CHC, which is closely located in a population like Shillong which likely patients will not attend or go and get treatment, we should identify such medical facilities and see whether we can redesignate them, making sure that their usage in the common current time does not become redundant and is therefore used for the correct plan for drug treatment,” she asserted.
The minister’s remarks come in the wake of a recent incident involving a young school student being attacked and stabbed with a needle, potentially exposing her to serious health risks.
She informed that the women’s wing of the National People’s Party had visited the patient in the hospital.
“These incidences of stabbing with a needle are sporadic in nature but alarming and the government has to take cognizance. It is not just about catching the culprits but figuring out what actually happened and what are the circumstances and what led to it and how seriously compromised is this young girl,” Lyngdoh said.
The minister also emphasized the importance of implementing the Drug Reduction, Elimination, and Action Mission (DREAM), which she believes offers a significant opportunity for intervention, redressal, and corrective measures to tackle the growing drug problem in the state.
The policy aims to provide a holistic approach to addressing drug addiction, involving not just medical treatment but also social and community-based initiatives.
“We are seized with the problem. We know what we need to do. We are interfacing with departments first to ensure that this valuable DREAM project doesn’t lose its way in just governmental preparedness for drugs but it goes beyond that and it actually serves as an important institution. This is institutionalization of treatment of drugs, which is multipronged in nature. It is not just one direction,” Lyngdoh stated.
Further, the minister informed that the government will soon announce a fully dedicated centre for the treatment of drugs particularly in the city of Shillong and Tura.
According to her, the state also now have an-women rehabilitation center, marking a significant milestone in its effort to combat the problem of drug menace.
