PANAJI
Data and statistics furnished by Health Minister Vishwajit Rane paints a gloomy picture of Goa vis-a-vis substance abuse and addiction.
According to Rane, government facilities in the State itself are treating seven patients for drug and other addictions daily, on an average.
Between January 2022 and June 2024, a total of 6,529 people have received treatment in government hospitals, most of them being treated under admission in the facility. A fraction of them took outpatient care.
Rane furnished this information in a written reply to a query raised by St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar.
Rane said, 1,222 people were registered at the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (IPHB) at Bambolim for alcohol addiction and 455 of them had to be admitted for treatment in the period between January 2022 and June 2024.
Apart from this, 210 drug addicts were registered for treatment at IPHB in the same period, of which 106 were admitted for treatment.
Rane also said that in the same 30-month period, the North Goa District Hospital at Mapusa treated a total of 2145 patients for various addictions with as many as 793 of them facing alcohol addiction.
The district hospital also treated 633 patients for tobacco addiction, 132 addicted to opioids and 85 patients to cannabis.
In South Goa, 2,868 received treatment for drug or alcohol and other addictions in government facilities in the same 30-month period, Rane said.
The South Goa District hospital accounted for 2574 of the addiction patients while 294 were taken under the wings of the TB hospital in Margao.
