Rehab for homeless teens being planned

[1]

Thousands of kids on the city roads who are forever sniffing a rag/handkerchief are victims of drug abuse. They start out with fluid and iodex and graduate to the actual “stuff”. Living as a part of the invisible population, it seems that the government has finally woken up to their cause. That’s why it’s planning to start a de-addiction centre for homeless teens. While activists appreciate the idea, they are skeptical about the implementation.

“If teenage victims aren’t treated separately, their condition might worsen is they are with seasoned victims,” says Dr Gautam Bhatia, an activist and director of a de-addiction center. Gautam said that his center is presently taking care of three kids who work as ragpickers in the city. “The treatment is purely retrospective, that’s where the catch lies when dealing with these teens. How do you make a 14-year-old realise that what he’s doing is not good for his health? He does not feel any apparent pain,” adds Gautam, adding that homeless kids are often recommended to rehabs by NGOs.
“I got to know that the proposed de-addiction centre will host world-class services such as detoxification and emergency treatment, psycho-social treatment for the total recovery of the addict through games and story-telling,” said Henna Sabha, a activist and teacher. “But the initiative should reach the right quarters,” she added, about the public private partnership model intitative by Sahyog Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for Adolescents, which is guided by the judiciary.