A state-level advisory board for de-addiction and rehabilitation will be constituted, said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today while addressing a workshop on Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition and De-addiction here today.
Sukhu said that he would head the Advisory Board. “An Opioid Substitution Therapy Centre will be established at all medical colleges and district hospitals of the state.
The objective of the initiative is to streamline the activities of various line departments on substance abuse and ensure an integrated approach to tackle the menace,” he added.
He said that the Centre of Excellence of Mental Health at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, would be the state-level nodal institution for de-addiction and rehabilitation.
The School Health Mission would be implemented in the state in collaboration with the departments of education and health, he added.
The Chief Minister said that an action plan for addressing the nutritional concerns of adolescent girls, expectant and lactating mothers and children up to the age of six years, besides drug abuse prevention, de-addiction and rehabilitation would be prepared.
He directed the Social Justice and Empowerment Department to formulate a mechanism to ensure the well-being of expectant mothers and their newborn up to the age of one year.
Sukhu said that the government was also contemplating to delegate powers to the lower level for the procurement of nutritional supplements to ensure good quality of food items being provided to eligible expectant and lactating mothers.
“We are establishing a state-of-the-art de-addiction and rehabilitation centre spread over 150 bighas at Kotla Barog village in Sirmaur district,” he added.