Vishav Bharti
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 2
When people were dying of Covid in the state, health officials, allegedly in connivance with certain parties, issued licences on the basis of old rules for opening private drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres on a mass scale.
The state government had first notified ‘The Punjab Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Counselling and Rehabilitation Centres Rules’ on January 16, 2011. However, there were many reports of irregularities and malpractices by centres.
New strict Rules
- No centre shall keep patients in basement
- Name of psychiatrist, his registration number and fee structure to be on display in local language
- Must have a qualified psychiatrist and his name must be included in the licence
- Can’t dispense any medicine without testing by FDA lab
- Every centre will submit its annual performance to government
- Govt can regulate and monitor treatment charges and price of the medicine dispensed
To regulate the functioning and licensing of drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres under Sections 71 and amp; 78 of the NDPS Act, and give more power to the department, the state government decided to amend the rules and notified amended rules as ‘The Punjab Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Counselling and Rehabilitation Centres Rules 2020’ on July 28 last year. However, the Health Department did not implement the amended rules for 16 months. In all these months, it kept issuing licences as per the rules of 2011, which had ceased to exist with the notification of the new rules.
By doing so, health officials not only indulged in an illegal act but also issued licences in haste. Between 2011 and 2020, in nine years, the Health Department had issued 132 licences for the opening of such centres. However, the department issued as many as 43 licences by following “non-existent rules” for the opening of new centres in over one year — between September 2020 and October 2021. The number is much higher than the annual average of nine years before the notification of the new rules.
Now, after 15 months, the Health Department has implemented the new rules by issuing an order on November 15. Health officials, in connivance with de-addiction centre owners, have taken the entire system for a ride and their act has raised questions on the legal sanctity of these licences.
Dr GB Singh, who was the Director Health Services, when the controversial licences were issued, said they had sought legal opinion on the issue, which came quite late. However, when asked why licences were issued based on rules that had ceased to exist, he said he could answer only after looking at records.
Deputy CM Om Parkash Soni, who holds the health portfolio, was not available for comments. Sources said as per a rough estimate, the de-addiction business had grown into a Rs 500-crore industry annually. It had become a lucrative business not only for doctors but also for politicians. They said doctors were being edged out by business tycoons.
Rules not implemented for 16 months
The state government amended rules in July last year but the Health Department did not implement these for 16 months. In all this time, it kept issuing licences as per rules that had ceased to exist. Besides, a relatively large number of licences were issued in this period.
Punjab: 43 illegal rehabilitation centres come up in 1 year
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