Private drug rehab centres under lens in Punjab

This is only the tip of the iceberg. The drug deaddiction industry is booming on the pretext of social service. Drug factories, de-addiction centre owners, drug inspectors, police and administration, everyone is part of this business model. VARINDER KUMAR, VB chief director

- Vishal Rambani

CHANDIGARH: Business is booming for private drug de-addiction centres in Punjab, perhaps second only to immigration. The border state has seven lakh registered drug addicts and 199 de-addiction centres, of which 177 are privately owned.

A recent Vigilance Bureau probe has found most private rehab centres are resorting to malpractices, in collusion with the regulatory authorities, to make huge profits.

A VB probe into a recent case against one such centre in Chandigarh, owned by Dr Amit Bansal, has revealed the dark underbelly of the drug de-addiction business that is defeating the very purpose of the government's policy of treating addicts. Dr Bansal's arrest for corruption and illegal drug distribution prompted VB chief director Varinder Kumar to write to Punjab chief secretary KAP Sinha, urging him to revisit the policy of providing licences to private centres.

"The aim of granting licences to private centres is to cure addicts by providing medicine/tablets containing Buprenorphine and Naloxone salt. While the medicine is provided free in government de-addiction centres, it is to be sold at ₹17 per tablet at private ones. But these private centres are charging between ₹40 and ₹400 a tablet. The demand is so high that some pharmaceutical companies have established up to 30 drug de-addiction centres to promote their brand," the VB chief says.