New SOP of Assam rehab centers to be implemented from Aug 1
The new SOP mandates each rehabilitation centers to provide a minimum of 25 beds, along with two nurses, a cook, and 15 other staff members.
Source: X
Guwahati, July 23: A new stringent Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) will be mandated from August 1 for the rehabilitation centres in Assam, said Minister Pijush Hazarika in a meeting chaired with the stakeholders and owners of de-addiction cum rehabilitation centres held on July 22.
Speaking to the media, Pijush Hazarika said, “The new SOP will be implemented from August 1 and three months’ time period will be given to the rehab centres to apply the new rules of the SOP. Failing to enforce the new SOP within the given time period will result in the closure of those rehab centres”.
As per reports, the new SOP mandates each rehabilitation centre to provide a minimum of 25 beds, along with two nurses, a cook, and 15 other staff members. Additionally, all centres are required to have psychiatrists on site. Inmates will be admitted only upon receiving approval from a doctor, who must attend to them within 24 hours.
The centres must undergo renewal every three years, with applications required to be submitted two months in advance. HIV-positive patients with a history of drug abuse must receive treatment at ART centres. Every centre should be staffed with a project coordinator, along with a project assistant and an office assistant, all of whom should hold graduate qualifications.
This intervention of the Assam government comes after the death of a youth of Meghalaya under mysterious circumstances at a rehab centre in Goalpara district of Assam.