NEW DELHI: As a part of the Centre’s National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (2018-2023), some states are planning to adopt mobile vans for community intervention for more flexible healthcare services, said an official familiar with developments.
Across states, the programme will also be modified to intensify the involvement of teachers and community workers for a greater reach among people in need of rehabilitation.
These proposals were floated by states during a recent meeting between all stakeholders in the national capital.
“States in the Northeast proposed that mobile vans would help in identifying people in need for rehabilitation and raising awareness on intervention programmes for drug de-addiction. Other states are also open to this idea. The vans are likely to move around with a full-fledged team of doctors and psychologists and will enable those people to access healthcare, who are otherwise not ready to go to hospitals and for people living in remote areas. It will also help fight the stigma around the issue,” said the official.
According to the official, another proposal seeks to expand the scope of peer-led interventions and an increase in outreach and drop-in centres (ODICs) in identified districts to rehabilitate more people.
“This would ensure that there is sensitisation of people at all levels and creates an enabling environment for people to start a dialogue on rehabilitation measures,” said the official.
In another initiative, the National Institute of Social Defence has invited proposals from organisations and NGOs to reach out to adolescents and youngsters on community-based peer interventions for early drug use prevention and ODICs.
Counselling would be facilitated by individual and group counselling, family counselling, behavioural range communication sessions, linking patients to service centres and, psycho-social interventions including educational sessions on the ill effects of drug use.
Plethora of proposals
States proposed to boost their capacity by identifying a centre where teachers, police functionaries, parents and integrated child development scheme workers will be trained to raise awareness on the ill-effects of addiction.
Another proposal was to identify one centre in each district where teachers, community workers and civilians can be trained