Drug de-addiction centres in Andhra Pradesh are facing staff shortages and financial constraints despite the high demand for counselling and treatment among people dependent on alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, sedatives and injectable substances.
The state has 25 drug de-addiction centres, one in each parliamentary constituency. Set up under the national action plan for drug demand reduction, they function in government hospitals.
Only 180 of the 344 sanctioned posts across these centres have been filled, leaving 164 vacant. Fourteen of the 25 sanctioned doctor posts are vacant. The centres also have 22 vacancies among 49 counsellor posts and 18 vacancies among 24 yoga therapist posts.
Despite the vacancies, the outpatient wards recorded 36,441 patient visits across the 25 centres in 2026 so far, compared with 44,860 in 2025. The inpatient wards admitted 3,139 patients in 2026 so far, against 3,255 in 2025-26. Alcohol was the most common addiction, followed by tobacco, cannabis, opioids, inhalants, injectable substances, hallucinogens such as MDMA, and sedatives. The centres reported treating 2,513 patients in 2026 so far and 2,512 in the previous year.
Tirupati Ruia government hospital DDAC counselling psychologist Dr G Murali said, “We get 30 to 40 patients at our centre per day aged between 18 to 35 years who are mainly addicted to liquor and ganja and apart from our counselling and medical treatment, the addicted patients need family support too to help them recover and ensure no relapse.”
Some staff members have complained that they have not received wages since April.
Counsellors conduct awareness programmes in educational institutions and among social groups, focusing mainly on unemployed youth. They advise people with addiction problems to visit the centres and seek counselling to overcome their dependence.
The state’s elite anti-narcotics group (EAGLE) is also reaching out to people with addiction problems through district-level cells to help them return to normal life.
Former AP IMA president Dr C. Srinivasa Raju said, “We appreciate the government’s efforts to set up drug de-addiction centres to tackle addiction to drugs among students and unemployed youth but there is a need for the active role of society also as some people consider a visit to such centres a social taboo.”
Director of medical education, Vishnu Vardhan, said, “We will resolve issues affecting drug de-addiction centres and we got a budget release order for `3.01 crore to resolve financial issues to the staff shortly.”
The state has also sanctioned `9.86 crore for the modernisation of 16 drug de-addiction centres.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
