Drug detoxification centres told to register with SHCC

The provincial government has decided that all drug rehabilitation and detoxification centres in the province should be registered with the Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) so they can provide their treatment services to addicts following a uniform system.

This was announced by Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, who presided over a meeting at the Sindh Secretariat on Monday. He said the government will also provide financial assistance to drug rehabilitation and detoxification centres in the province.

Shah said the detoxification centres will be provided with the required financial and security assistance only after they register with the health care commission of the province.

He said that uniform course will be prescribed for the rehabilitation centres in the province to provide vocational training to people getting treatment there so that once they graduate from these centres, they can be useful members of society.

The meeting was informed on the occasion that in the absence of such vocational training courses, the graduates of the rehabilitation centres were prone to returning to their former lives.

The rehabilitation programme currently being offered by the detoxification centres of Sindh having the duration of three months alone is not capable enough to turn drug addicts into useful members of society if they are not offered any sort of technical training.

The chief secretary said the Sindh Technical & Vocational Training Authority and similar non-governmental organisations will be engaged in prescribing technical training courses to the patients of drug rehabilitation centres.

He directed the social welfare secretary to provide all the details in a week so that a plan can be prepared to provide financial assistance to the rehabilitation centres of the province.

The meeting was also informed on the occasion that as many as 508 prisoners across the province were drug addicts, and majority of them were interned at the Malir Jail where their number was 140.

The meeting was attended by the commissioner of Karachi, the police chief for the city, the secretary of the social welfare department, the Sindh officials of the Pakistan Rangers and anti-narcotics officials.