Sindh to screen schoolkids to check drug abuse

The Sindh government on Thursday decided to screen schoolchildren across province every year to check drug abuse and directed the health and education departments to come up with a proposal to conduct the screening exercise.

The decision was taken by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in a meeting with Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF) Director General Major General Musarrat Nawaz Malik at the CM House. 

The meeting was attended by Health Secretary Fazalullah Pechuho, Home Secretary Qazi Shahid Pervez, Principal Secretary to CM Sohail Rajput and ANF Karachi Commander Noorul Hassan.

The chief minister said that after going through news reports of usage of narcotics by students of educational institutions in the federal capital, he was worried about the students receiving education and living in hostels in Sindh. He asked the ANF director general to help the Sindh government to combat this menace in the province.

He directed the health secretary to put up a proposal for screening the schoolchildren and adolescents for drug abuse once a year so that proper measures could be taken to eradicate the menace of drugs from the educational institutions.

Shah instructed his principal secretary to issue the directives to the education department for working out a plan. The ANF chief said he was also aware about the issue and his force had already started working on it. “In this regard, the ANF needs the support of the provincial government, for which your guidance and approval is required. You have entrusted us with the task and the ANF would produce congenial results.”

The chief minister said his government had already launched a targeted operation against the drug mafia. The ANF had to help the provincial government to eliminate the organised gangs involved in the supply of narcotics in the city.

“When the drug mafia move unchecked, they can penetrate anywhere particularly into the educational institutions. There should be a strong mechanism of surveillance, for which police, excise & taxation would help and support the ANF.”

The meeting also discussed that the blood screening of students receiving education in public and private sector institutions was a most important step in terms of keeping an eye on their health issues.

“The government would bear the expenses of the students receiving education in the public sector, while educational institutions of the private sector would be instructed to start a policy of the screening of blood of each and every student at least once in a year,” he said and added that the policy would help control all kinds of diseases such as hepatitis.

The ANF director general invited the chief minister to inaugurate the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Model Addiction and Treatment Centre (MATRC) in Lyari, constructed by the Sindh government at a cost of Rs 6 million.

The chief minister accepted the invitation and also approved a proposal to provide a building to the ANF for the establishment of a model addiction and treatment centre in Sukkur.

Shah, on the advice of the ANF head, directed the health secretary to establish a 10-bed facility  in each and every district hospital for the treatment of drug addicts. He issued directives to the Board of Revenue to arrange 10 acres for the ANF at Mochko in Karachi’s District West to establish a police station. A similar portion of land is also required by the ANF for its police station at Hyderabad. 

During the meeting, a portion of the defunct Sindh Road Transport Corporation in Hyderabad was identified, for which the chief minister directed his principal secretary, Sohail Rajput, to coordinate with the transport department and provide space to the ANF.

The CM also directed home secretary Qazi Shahid Parvez to ensure coordination among the police, ANF and excise departments for launching a operation against the drug mafia operating in the city. 

“I won’t allow them [drug mafia] to play with the lives of our innocent students/children. They are our future and it becomes our collective responsibility to keep them safe and secure from all the evils,” he said and urged the parent to support the government.