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Rehabilitation | Photo: Sachi Hegde
Udupi: The Dr A V Baliga Memorial Hospital at Doddangudde in Udupi is the first hospital within this area to have a de-addiction center for alcoholics and other such addicts. The hospital specializes in alcohol de-addiction and the one of best feature of this hospital is that it does not reject taking on relapse cases.
The de-addiction cell initially started off in 2003, through these five years, the hospital has conducted five de-addiction camps and the response has been huge. The patients in this hospital are mainly from semi-urban or rural background. Most people are admitted by their family members and the hospital also has vans that it sends out. Addicts are brought from in and around the district with the help of the Garuda Police. “The relapse rate in these addiction cases is very high. Only 30% of the patients are completely cured after these de-addiction programmes. But we cannot lose hope and be pessimistic. That is why we take relapse case even if a patient comes 10 times. Some of the people who are cured over here are ready to work as volunteers because they can empathize better,’ said Dr P V Bhandary, the director of this hospital.
Free de-Addiction camps are held every six months. Most of the treatment required is sponsored by the charitable trust that backs up this hospital. The treatment in the hospital is multi-modal and is very reasonable and affordable, in the general sense. Alcohol addiction has add-on medical problems like acid-peptic diseases, diabetes, hepatitis, etc. Therefore, the patients are treated not only for alcohol de-addiction but their general health is also looked after. A general physician visits the patients twice a day. The mental health is also taken care of by the counsellors and doctors. “About 50% of the patients admitted in this centre are youngsters as they start drinking due to peer pressure,” added Dr PV Bhandary. The psyche of the patients is such that when they relapse, they tend to come back to this de-addiction centre voluntarily because they have an urge to live.
Vishnu Moorthy, one of the alcohol addicts who joined only 19 days ago was very happy about the treatment at the hospital. He would suffer from major sleeplessness if he did not consume alcohol. His constant drinking had made him very aggressive and he would vent out that frustration on his wife and children. He said he enjoyed the way the counselling was in this place, he said he has also happy about making many new friends here and that he was looking forward to living a new life hereafter. Shridhar, one of the staff members at this hospital said, “Mostly, the patients here are physically able. Our duty here is to be there for them morally and psychologically. We have to give them emotional support at all times.”
Treatment here consists of counselling sessions, lectures by Alcoholics Anonymous, play sessions, prayer meetings, etc. John D’ Silva, one of the counsellors, said “I make charts for the patients here by my own my imagination so that they are inspired to give up on alcohol. There are many physical exercises the patients are made to do, we have an indoor game hall and we also have facilities for outdoor games. They are made to sing prayers and meditate as well. This brings peace of mind. Around 3000 patients are treated here every year.’ Francis Machado, a relapse patient, said, “This is my second year over here. The last time I left alcohol, I was tempted, and I started to consume again, little by little, I came back to addiction. This time I am determined to quit.”
The colourful walls of the addiction centre are displayed with charts made by John and many other posters talking of the ill-effects of alcohol addiction. The staff and the sisters are always ready to help. The doctors are efficient and approachable. But, most of the patients still relapse. The real antidote to addiction is sheer determination.
Sub-edited by Nida Unas |
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