IMPHAL, February 13: The Community Network for Empowerment (CoNE), a state level network of community based organization of people who use drugs in Manipur has voiced its discontent with the sudden closure of the Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) program at the Senapati District hospital during a press conference today at the Karong Community Hall.
CoNE’s assertion was that the availability and improvement of the life of injecting drug users following the service of OST has been affected after the drug therapy program was shut down at the district headquarter abruptly on January 20, 2013 without any alternate arrangement and prior notice, leaving 79 program beneficiaries unattended in the middle of the treatment process.
Speaking at the press conference, President of CoNE, Nolinikanta, said that the Senapati district OST centre was the first to be set up in Manipur after the Chief Minister announced that 19 OST centres would be set up to rehabilitate drug users on World Aids Days, 2011.
He continued that soon after the closure of the program at Senapati, CoNE and another community based orgsanization -Senapati District Users’ Community Organization had submitted a report to the MACS public distributor, but there has been no reply till date.
The civil society groups then contacted the concerned authority of the district regarding the issue but they were told that program benefeciaries could get OST at Imphal centres.
However, he stressed that travelling to the state capital everyday for the sublingual supplement from far flung villages is not only inconvenient but also not feasible for the injection drug users who are not stable to even travel at the first place. Then there is the travel expense which is also a burden to the families of the clients, he added.
He further said that the society who mandates a quality treatment for the rehabilitation of drug users and to prevent HIV virus and other blood transfusion diseases had carried on the treatment smoothly although it had insufficient staff members.
He said that according to the guidelines of National Aids Control Organization, there should be a doctor, two nurses, a counselor and a data operator for running the program.
He added that stopping the treatment for the drug abusers who are willing to get back to normal life is a violation against human rights and the right to public health. It would also be a waste to all the hard work they have contributed for the betterment of the injection drug users, he said.
“After getting the treatment, my life has gone through a lot of positive change but ever since I have stopped OST, I am tempted to get back to my old ways of injecting again,” a drug user was quoted as saying at the conference.
CoNE in collaboration with the community based organization, SDUCO has further appealed to the Manipur State AIDS Control Society to re-establish OST within February with adequate staff according to the guidelines of NACO. If no action is taken, the civil society would submit a memorandum to the highest authority available with the help of different civil societies of the area.
OST is a therapy process where in injecting drug users are given oral doses of buprenorphine which is ingested by placing underneath the tongue. The therapy is given in proportionate doses according to the dose of injecting drugs with the dosage amount slowly being decreased. The therapy is credited with helping injecting drug users give up injecting while addressing bodily withdrawal symptoms.