Hyderabad: Mutating habits of alcoholics pose a different-kind problem

Hyderabad: While the government has been successfully wrestling with the deadly coronavirus menace, the lockdown has now kicked up another problem from the alcoholics.

With all wine shops closed in the state, those habituated to consuming alcohol are now facing severe withdrawal symptoms and are said to be behaving in a troublesome manner and in some cases, there were suicide attempts. The Erragadda Mental Hospital which had seen a near zero out-patients since the lockdown, is now getting almost about 100 OP cases.

Erragadda Mental Hospital Superintendent Uma Shankar said the alcoholics suffering from withdrawal symptoms were being brought to the hospital in large numbers. On Monday, the hospital was flooded with a number of patients. More than 100 patients have sought medical help in the Out Patient ward and a few were admitted as in-patients, as their health condition deteriorated. The authorities were also receiving such cases from the districts, officials said.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, the government has opened de-addiction counselling centres at all public health centres in major towns and district headquarters. Khammam District Collector RV Karnan has taken up a special initiative of opening a helpline to extend assistance to the addicts who were making nuisance for want of liquor in their locality .

The State Excise and Prohibition department in consultation with the Health department is planning to activate all the de addiction centres to help those who were addicted to liquor. Officials however clarified that there is no such proposal to supply liquor to the addicts at their doorsteps by relaxing the norms imposed under the lockdown. Family members of the addicted were appealing to the Excise department to provide liquor.

A case of attempt to suicide by an addicted person was also reported in Hyderabad. Police took the person with grievous injuries on neck into custody and sent him for treatment to a hospital. Sporadic cases of the alcoholics inflicting injuries self were also reported in some villages where the liquor addiction was high. In some cases, due to non-availability of liquor, people consumed adulterated toddy which created additional health complications to them. The Excise department has already taken up a drive to curb the adulterated toddy in the remote areas.