Bhubaneswar, Aug 10 (PTI) AIIMS Bhubaneswar has started its own opioid substitution therapy (OST) centre and an acute care unit to strengthen treatment for addiction and severely-ill psychiatric patients respectively.
The OST centre aims to cater to 150-200 patients on a day-to-day basis. It will be a major boon to reach out to this neglected population in Odisha, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said in a release on Wednesday.
AIIMS executive director Ashutosh Biswas inaugurated the facilities in the psychiatry department, which has also initiated clinical services for children who are referred from the State Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SIEP).
The OST centre will run daily, while services for children from the SIEP will be provided on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Biswas said these services would be immensely helpful for different groups of psychiatric patients, including those with addiction and children with disabilities.
“India is currently a home to more than 8 lakh injecting drug users,” psychiatry head Biswaranjan Mishra said, adding that such people remain at risk of suffering from life-threatening diseases like HIV.
The OST, along with a comprehensive package of psychosocial interventions, helps clients lead drug-free lives, assistant professor Arpit Parmar said. PTI HMB RG RG
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