Govt to set up de-addiction centres across State

Amaravati: The YSRCP government is contemplating to establish de-addiction centres across the State. This initiative has been taken by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. He directed the medical department to establish at least one de-addiction cell in each Assembly constituency.

As the State government has been planning to completely ban alcohol consumption in the State within the next three years in a phased manner, the de-addiction centres are needed to provide proper medical treatment to those who are addicted to alcohol.

Speaking to The Hans India, Dr K S Jawahar Reddy, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, informed that in the first phase the government will establish at least one de-addiction cell in all the district and teaching hospitals across the State. After that, the same will be extended to all the secondary and primary health centres gradually.

On the other hand, the Excise department has initiated restrictions on liquor sales in the State. It has reduced the number of liquor outlets from existing about 4,500 shops to 3,500 in the first year itself. In addition to that, the government takes the responsibility of both distribution and retail sales in the State.

D Sambasiva Rao, Special Chief Secretary, Excise, informed that the State government has been taking all the necessary measures for complete ban on liquor consumption in the State.

Sambasiva Rao said that within three years, the government will impose complete ban. He further said that since the State government has taken the retail sales responsibility, the belt shops menace has already been curtailed. The lack of belt shops would certainly reduce the number of consumers and also bring down the quantum of consumption of liquor, he added.

While the department has been taking proactive steps in this regard as directed by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, the alcohol addicts would have health complications. Hence, they required medical intervention, he observed.

At this juncture, the interdepartmental cooperation is very much needed and hence the State government has been formulating the guidelines for departments concerned.

It is worth to mention here that the State government yet does not have the statistics on the alcohol addicts. They even do not have statistics on how many people have been consuming the liquor in the State. But, they have an idea on how much quantum of liquor is being consumed.

There is an urgent need to enumerate on the alcohol addicts to effectively implement the de addiction plan. Otherwise, the marathon exercise of the State government may go in vain.