Srinagar: With the cases of overdose by heroin and other drugs on a steep rise in Kashmir, de-addiction experts in Kashmir feel there was a need to ensure the availability of Naloxone, an antidote, in all hospitals.
The peripheral hospitals have taken the lead.
In Kashmir, there has been a mammoth rise in people, mostly young, dying suddenly.
Although doctors have cautioned that not all such deaths could be due to an overdose, they agree that the drug overdose deaths, especially among people indulging in inter-vein heroin abuse were a growing concern.
Incharge De-addiction Center at SMHS Hospital Dr Yasir Hussain Rather said that these deaths were not documented and the doctors mostly come to know about these if the patient is brought to the hospital or through anecdotal evidence of people seeking help for addiction.
“We often have people reporting for de-addiction when they see a peer dying of an overdose,” he said.
Dr Rather said that an overdose could be accidental or intentional.
“A person indulging in heroin abuse and other illicit drugs in the opioid category sometimes consumes more illicit drugs than what his system can tolerate. This leads to respiratory failure and cardiac arrest and deaths,” he said.
Dr Rather said that most overdoses take place at home or with peers.
The effects of drug overdoses are being reversed in many parts of the world by Naloxone injection.
However, in Kashmir, there is no availability of this lifesaving antidote in government hospitals and de-addiction centers.
A practitioner, wishing anonymity, said that the drug was even short in supply in the open market.
“We could save lives if we had Naloxone available in emergency rooms,” he said.
The anonymous doctor said that even some families, who were aware of a member indulging in drug abuse, had used Naloxone to save their life.
“Now that we are sitting on a powder keg of heroin, it must be an essential supply item in Kashmir,” he said.
The doctor said that a young patient received at an emergency with Coma, Miosis (pinpoint pupils), and respiratory depression should be immediately administered Naloxone.
“There should be no second thoughts about it,” he said.
Recently, the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir (DHSK) issued an order impressing upon the Medical Superintendents and Chief Medical Officers to ensure the availability of Naloxone in the hospitals. “There have been recent reports of Opioid overdose being managed in our health institutions,” reads the order.
In this regard, the administrators have been directed to ensure that the antidote is available in emergency rooms, ICUs, and addiction treatment facilities.
The hospitals have been authorised to purchase the medicine with Hospital Development Funds.
Dr Muhammad Maqbool Dar, Head of the Department of Psychiatry that runs the De-addiction Center at SMHS Hospital, said that Naloxone would be introduced to supply soon.
“We are aware how important this injection has become now,” he said.