Nasha mukti kendra for families from Bathinda.

Why families from Bathinda call us

Bathinda is not short of places that call themselves a drug rehabilitation centre. What families tell us on the phone is that the person was admitted somewhere, kept for a few weeks, and was back on the drug within a month of coming home.

That usually happens for one reason. Only the body was treated.

Addiction almost never travels alone. Behind it there is often depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, or something that happened years ago and was never spoken about. If nobody treats that part, the person walks out clean and comes back to the same mind he left with.

Aasra has its own consultant psychiatrist on staff, Dr. Amanullah Ghori, M.B.B.S., DPM. Most de addiction centres in this belt do not. That is the single biggest difference a family notices later.

ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਵਿੱਚ

ਬਠਿੰਡਾ ਤੋਂ ਬਹੁਤ ਸਾਰੇ ਪਰਿਵਾਰ ਸਾਡੇ ਕੋਲ ਆਉਂਦੇ ਨੇ। ਸਾਡੇ ਕੋਲ ਆਪਣਾ ਮਨੋਰੋਗ ਡਾਕਟਰ ਹੈ, 50 ਬੈੱਡ ਨੇ, ਤੇ ਸਟਾਫ਼ ਚੌਵੀ ਘੰਟੇ ਹਾਜ਼ਰ ਰਹਿੰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਦਾਖ਼ਲਾ ਕਿਸੇ ਵੀ ਵੇਲੇ ਹੋ ਸਕਦਾ ਹੈ। ਫ਼ੋਨ ਕਰੋ +91 83601 40700।

हिंदी में

बठिंडा से आने वाले परिवारों के लिए। हमारे यहाँ अपना मनोरोग विशेषज्ञ है, 50 बेड हैं, और स्टाफ़ चौबीस घंटे मौजूद रहता है। भर्ती किसी भी समय हो सकती है। फ़ोन करें +91 83601 40700।

Which parts of the district families come from

Bathinda city, and Rampura Phul, Maur Mandi, Talwandi Sabo, Goniana Mandi, Nathana, Bhucho Mandi, Bhagta Bhai Ka and Sangat. Some families ring from villages we have to look up on the map, and that is fine too.

The reason they give for coming this far is nearly always the same one. They wanted a psychiatrist on the staff rather than a doctor who visits twice a week, and a programme longer than a few weeks. Everything is done at one address, Korewala Road, Daroli Bhai, and you are welcome to come and look at the place before you decide anything. There is no appointment system and you can come without the patient.

What addiction looks like in the Malwa belt

Bathinda sits in the Malwa belt, and the pattern here has never been the same as in Majha or Doaba. For years the common complaint in these villages was doda post, that is poppy husk, along with country liquor. Older men in particular started with doda as something almost ordinary, taken openly at akharas and weddings.

Then supply tightened and the same people moved to what was easier to get. Today the families who call us from Bathinda talk about chitta and injections far more than they did ten years ago, and the age of the patient keeps dropping.

Government figures point the same way. Punjab runs a large network of Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment clinics, and Bathinda has been among the districts with the highest number of registered patients in the state, alongside Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran. The bulk of those patients are between 18 and 25 years of age.

The government options in Bathinda

We think a family should know all its options before it spends any money. Here are the ones that exist.

OOAT clinics. Punjab has been running Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment clinics since October 2017, and there are now over five hundred of them across the state, several in Bathinda district itself. They give a buprenorphine and naloxone tablet under supervision. This is free of cost. For a person who is still working, still living at home, and genuinely wants to stop, an OOAT clinic is a sensible first step and we say so plainly.

Civil hospital and government de-addiction wards. The district hospital handles detox admissions. There is usually a waiting period and the stay is short.

What the treatment here actually involves

The programme runs for about four months. It is residential, which means this is a drug rehabilitation centre and not a detox ward, and the patient stays for the whole period.

• Medical detox. The first week or two, under supervision, with medicine to control withdrawal. Staff are awake through the night.
• Psychiatric assessment. Our own doctor examines the patient, not a visiting doctor who comes once a month.
• Counselling every day. Individual and group. Our chief counsellor holds a Ph.D. in psychology.
• Family counselling. The family is part of the treatment, not just the people who pay for it.
• A daily routine. Yoga in the morning, gym, cricket, badminton, meals at fixed times. Idleness is what pulls people back. You can see the full daily timetable.

You can see the rooms, the counselling hall, the ground and the gym in the photo gallery. Every photo on this site is of our own centre.

Bringing someone who does not want to come

This is the most common question we get from Bathinda, and there is no clever answer to it. Nobody arrives here happy. What we tell families is to call us first and describe the situation honestly, including how long it has been going on and what he is using. We have done this since 2017 and we can usually tell you what has worked for others in the same position.

Do not bring him without telling us. Call first so that a bed and the doctor are ready when you reach.

Confidentiality

No name and no photograph of any patient leaves this centre without written permission. The families whose sons appear in our video testimonials chose to speak. Most do not, and that is completely normal.