Uttarakhand: De-addiction centres will be monitored, strict action will be taken against institutions running without registration

Now under the Mental Health Care Act 2017, district level inspection teams will be formed to monitor de-addiction centers in all districts. Every de-addiction center will be thoroughly investigated by these teams. Also, the institutions which do not meet the prescribed standards or are running without registration will be identified and action will be taken for financial penalty and immediate closure.

An important meeting of the State Mental Health Authority was held at the Secretariat in Dehradun on Friday under the chairmanship of Health Secretary Dr. R Rajesh Kumar. In this meeting, the status of all de-addiction centers in the state, registration, fulfillment of standards and inspection process was discussed with the public. He said that the state government under the leadership of CM Pushkar Singh Dhami is committed to free the state from drug addiction tendencies. During the meeting, he has asked to speed up the monitoring and evaluation process of all de-addiction centers operating in the state. Dr. R Rajesh Kumar said that no illegal and unregistered de-addiction center will be allowed to operate in the state.

He told the concerned officials that as per the Mental Health Care Act, only those institutions will be allowed to work which meet the minimum standards. He has appealed to the public and all departments to play their active role from this month. He says that public awareness is the most powerful medicine for de-addiction. The Health Secretary has asked all the concerned departments to run a public awareness campaign on a wide scale from village level to cities. During this, details of current activities were also presented by the State Mental Health Authority. Along with this, an upcoming action plan was also presented to ensure high quality mental health services.