Punjab’s first mobile OOAT clinic brings over 2,000 addicts back into treatment

Punjab's first mobile Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) clinic, launched as a pilot project seven weeks ago and aimed at providing addicts treatment at their doorstep, has got a huge response from those who had deserted treatment midway and gotten sucked back into the vicious cycle of drug abuse.

Every day since it was launched on April 14, the mobile clinic covers four villages. In seven weeks, over 2,300 old patients, who had abandoned the treatment, have returned.

The Covid-19 lockdown resulted in snapping of drug supply chains in various areas, due to which thousands of new addicts got registered with (OOAT) centres across the state.

The weekly footfall to this mobile clinic has increased from 133 already registered patients in the first week to 617 patients in the seventh week -- almost a five-hold increase.

Under this pilot project, the government in its mobile clinic has been conducting screening and providing de-addiction drugs after consultations with a team of expert doctors.

Four days a week, the mobile clinic has been visiting various villages, where a large number of fugitive addicts have gotten themselves registered again.

“This facility was created not only to decrease the heavy rush at OOAT centres but to relocate all those addicts who have left their treatment midway and had again gotten hooked to deadly drugs,” said Dr Sandeep Bhola, who is in charge of this project as well as the drug de-addiction and rehabilitation society ‘Navkiran’, located in civil hospital premises in Kapurthala. He added, “Due to the lockdown, these patients were not getting supplies and when we took the mobile clinic to their doorstep they again came to us and re-started their treatment which is free of cost.”

Most of these addicts are aged between 18 and 25 years and engaged in various labour works and hooked to ‘chitta’ (heroin).

An addict from Sandhu Chatha village said he had been getting treatment till last year, but stopped because he was getting a regular supply of ‘chitta’. But that supply stopped due to the lockdown. “Whatever I was earning I was spending only on drugs and my family was facing a hard time,” he added.

Success in numbers

According to the mobile clinic’s records, the number of patients has increased very fast. In the first week, 133 old patients got registered, which went up to 228, 282, 300, 316, 450 and 617, in second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh weeks, respectively. A total of 2,346 patients were registered within seven weeks.

Deputy Commissioner Kapurthala Deepti Uppal said that the project was launched under the District De-addiction and Rehabilitation Society Kapurthala. “It got a huge response and in seven weeks we could manage to bring back around 2300 patients in the line of treatment when they had left midway,” she said, adding that no new patients were registered under the mobile clinic.

Meanwhile, OOAT clinics across the state has been registering several new patients.