Punjab govt cancels Kharar de-addiction centre’s licence to treat substance abuse
The inspecting teams had found wrong protocol of treatment at the centre. Instead of decreasing the dose of treatment drugs — Buprenorphine and Naloxone — , the dose was increased for some patients.
Over a month after the Mohali district administration recommended its closure, the state health and family welfare department has cancelled the licence of Kharar-based Dr Sidhu’s De-addiction Centre.
Mohali deputy commissioner Gurpreet Kaur Sapra had recommended the centre’s closure after finding irregularities during an inspection in July.
The DC had filed a comprehensive report regarding all 26 private de-addiction centres in the district at the time.
On the basis of recommendations, the health and family welfare department cancelled the “substance use disorder treatment” licence of Dr Sidhu’s De-addiction Centre, run by Dr Tejinder Singh Sidhu.
Sapra said the centre during inspection had no indoor patients, and its management failed to produce the necessary record.
“There were gross irregularities. There are bylaws to run such centres, and even a little lenience can drive more youth into the drug trap,” she said.
On his part, centre’s owner Dr Tejinder Singh Sidhu said, “I am not aware of any order from the health department. The centre was inspected in my absence. There was no irregularity and only a misunderstanding. We follow guidelines of the World Health Organization and medical councils in India.”
On the high drug procurement, he said, “You never know the patient inflow. So we need to store the medication in advance. Both Buprenorphine and Naloxone cannot be misused, andare only used to treat opioid addiction.”
What was amiss at the centre
The inspecting teams had found wrong protocol of treatment at the centre. Instead of decreasing the dose of treatment drugs — Buprenorphine and Naloxone — , the dose was increased for some patients. The medication is used to block the effects of narcotics.
Besides this, the drugs procured by the centre were much more than those required for the number of patients registered. According to the drugs procured, around 4, 000 patients should have visited the centre in a day, which was not the case.
Drug de-addiction centres are supposed to either ask the patient to visit the centre daily for drug dose or give them medicines for a couple of days. But records of the centre revealed that it had been giving medicines for 40 days.
The panel also found blank columns in the register, which could be manipulated easily.