BHUBANESWAR: AIIMS-Bhubaneswar on Wednesday started its own opioid substitution therapy (OST) Centre for treatment of opiate dependant persons and severely ill psychiatric patients in Odisha.The department of Psychiatry also opened an acute care unit (ACU) in the in-patient unit for severely ill psychiatric patients and initiated clinical services for children with disabilities referred from State Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SIEP).
Executive Director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar Prof Ashutosh Biswas inaugurated both the facilities. He said the services will be immensely helpful for different groups of psychiatric patients including patients with addiction and children with disabilities.
OST is an evidence-based intervention for opiate-dependent persons that replaces illicit drug use with medically prescribed, orally administered opiates such as buprenorphine and methadone. OST reduces HIV risk behaviours and harms associated with injecting opioid.
“India is currently home to more than 8 lakh injecting drug users. Many such users are unable to lead a drug-free life and they remain at risk of suffering from life threatening diseases such as HIV,” said Head of Psychiatry department Dr Biswa Ranjan Mishra.
OST, along with a comprehensive package of psychosocial interventions, helps people lead drug-free lives. They also stop injecting drugs which eventually prevents the potential harm of contracting HIV, hepatitis and other diseases transmitted through injecting routes, informed Nodal Officer of OST Centre Dr Arpit Parmar.
The centre that aims at catering to 150 to 200 patients a day will run daily while services to children from SIEP will be provided on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Psychiatry OPD.