After one pressure group came out against the oral substitution therapy (OST) centre at Shillong Civil Hospital, Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh today defended the facility for the work it does to treat drug users.
OST is for opioid-dependent injecting drug users. They are provided with long acting medications for a long period of time under medical supervision along with psycho-social interventions. However, the complaining pressure group said that the patients who come for OST at the hospital are often disruptive, which has led to concern from other patients.
Lyngdoh explained that the problem has to be dealt with through constructive means and not by simply closing the facility. She expressed gratitude towards the drug users association, which has come forward and offered to handle the situation.
“Volunteers are being provided. Don’t just chase people away and put them into boxes further away from reach of assistance. That’s not the way to function,” said Lyngdoh, adding that some aspects need to be improved from the centre’s side, such as in the provision of proper counselling and other facilities, so that everything that can be done is done to help drug users move away from addiction and back to constructive life.
