Nimhans helps Bihar fight addiction

The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) has come to the aid of the Bihar government in banning the sale and consumption of all forms of alcohol; from country-made to the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). The Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) government had banned the sale and consumption of alcohol in Bihar from April 1, citing the ill-effects of alcohol addiction in society, especially among the poorest of the poor. Nimhans, which has a full-fledged de-addiction centre, has till date trained 38 doctors, including psychiatrists from Bihar, in an ongoing programme to help people fight their addiction. “The Bihar government has opened 38 de-addiction centres across the state to help people fight addiction and lead normal lives.

The Institute (Nimhans) has trained 38 doctors, including psychiatrists and general practitioners, to help in the government’s de-addiction programme.

The module is more to train the trainers so that they can train more doctors in the programme for an improved outreach,” said Prof Vivek Benegal, Centre of De-addiction Medicine, Nimhans.

He added that the Institute is helping the trained doctors in Bihar using the Internet based virtual knowledge network so that there is a continuous support to them. Bihar is the fourth state to go dry after Gujarat, Nagaland and Kerala.

The Tamil Nadu government recently decided to implement prohibition in a phased manner.