Treating addiction: Over Rs50m allocated to build, upgrade rehab centres

KARACHI: Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah allocated Rs45 million to upgrade Benazir Shaheed ANF Model Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (BSMATReC), Lyari and to construct a similar centre in Sukkur, while the government will also be paying the monthly expenses to rehabilitate drug addicts by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF).

Shah took the decision after a meeting with the ANF director-general Major General Nasir Dilawar at the CM House on Wednesday.

The Sindh government established BSMATReC - a 50-bed hospital for men in Lyari - and gives a Rs500,000 grant to the centre to meet salary and other expenditures.

"The hospital must be upgraded in terms of beds and rehabilitation facilities for women as well," said Shah to which Dilawar informed that construction to accommodate 100 more beds has started.

It will be a 150-bed hospital and rehabilitation centre once completed but there has been a shortage of funds, shared Dilawar.

Shah approved Rs40 million to complete the project and doubled the monthly grant from Rs0.5 million to Rs1 million, urging the DG to complete the project.

There is need of another drug rehabilitation centre in Sukkur to cater to the needs of northern and southern Sindh, expressed Shah.

The DG said that they have already been given land by the Sindh government but Rs5 million is required to construct the centre.

The chief minister approved the amount from his special funds and urged Dilawar to start the work.

Shah assured that he will provide necessary funding for other expenditures of the Sukkur rehabilitation centre. "We need these centres because rehabilitation in the private sector is quite expensive," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2016.