Service Development for Behavioural Addictions: AIIMS Experience

ABSTRACTThe concept of behavioural addiction is relatively new. The growing recognition of the behavioural addictions globally and increasing clinical queries catalysed the ongoing deliberations on setting up services for addressing behavioural addictions at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. This led to establishment of what is arguably the first Behavioural Addictions Clinic (BAC) in the country. The clinic is an initiative of the Department of Psychiatry and National Drug Dependence Treatment Center (NDDTC), AIIMS, New Delhi. The current article offers an overview of the BAC, AIIMS, New Delhi.

Planning and Designing of Deaddiction Centre

Substance use estimates, however, are liable to change over time, depending upon diverse factors such as availability and cost of the substances in the community, existing legislations and their implementation, social perception and attitude about use of particular substances, peer pressure and other socio-cultural factors. About 122 drug dependence treatment centres or De-Addiction Centres (DACs) have been established by The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOH&FW), Government of India. While most of these government centres are associated with either general hospitals at the district levels (district hospitals or civil hospitals), some have also been attached with departments of Psychiatry at certain medical colleges. Only a few centres (about 42, mainly those in the north-eastern states of the country) receive recurrent grants from the union health ministry. Most others have been dependent on the state governments for the recurring expenditure (on staff salaries, supplies etc.).