Balambat Rehabilitation Centre serves as beacon of hope

TIMERGARA: The Balambat Rehabilitation Centre is a beacon of hope for the young people, who are struggling to get rid of the addiction.

The number of young people, who are struggling to stop using drugs, is increasing alarmingly in the Lower Dir district. The addicts mostly belong to poor families.According to locals, the trend was worrying as ice, heroin, hashish and other substances were easily available in the district headquarters and its suburban areas contributing to the rise in addiction among young people.

The Balambat Rehabilitation Centre was established by the Social Welfare Special Education and Women Empowerment Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a rented building.

Talking to this scribe, Rehabilitation Officer Muhammad Nisar told this scribe that since its inception the centre had treated more than 800 addicts all belonging to Lower Dir district. “Currently 30 addicts from various areas of the district are under treatment at the centre,” Muhammad Nisar said.

He added that the center was spending Rs200,000 per head on the three-month treatment program which was provided by the provincial government, Secretariat Social Welfare and the district administration.

A medical officer, psychologist, psychiatrist, religious scholar and rehabilitation officer provided counseling to the addicts on a regular basis, he said.“We have established on our own a vocational centre for addicts where they learn different skills including tailoring, electrician and cooking to make the addicts useful citizens,” Muhammad Nisar said.

The official said the rehabilitation centre needed a proper building and an ambulance for transporting the addicts from one place to another, establishing a proper gym inside the centre, installation of solar panels and provision of sports equipment. He added that the centre had six vacant positions which needed to be filled.