TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: A non-governmental organization has approached the Goa government to setup a detoxification unit at State-run Apna Ghar claiming that juveniles there are indulging in substance abuse.
In a letter to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, the NGO claims it is concerned over a number of inmates and street children addicted either to drugs, gutkha and other contraband products.
The NGO Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) has requested the government to urgently cater to these children so that they can be stopped at the initial stage of addiction.
The Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour(IPHB) caters to these children when admitted there, but no concrete rehabilitation plans have been made for such children. When such children are sent to IPHB they house the children for a maximum 15 days and to make matters worse the children are housed in with other adult inmates as there are no separate facilities for children at IPHB, the NGO claims.
The letter further says that a child or youth can be sent to the in-house facility after the consent of the guardian/parents/adult member of the family. “Few areas in which this institute can cater to are medical evaluation, detoxification, inpatient program and after care and relapse prevention,” the letter says.
