DDTC-PGI Receives Prestigious National Award “Organization of Excellence”

By 121 News

Chandigarh 26th June:- The Drug De-addiction and Treatment Centre (DDTC), Department of Psychiatry, PGIMER, Chandigarh received the prestigious National Award as an "Organization of Excellence" for its Outstanding Services in the field of Prevention of Alcoholism and Substance (Drug) Abuse, as the best institute under the category "Best Research and Innovation".

The award was conferred by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and it was presented by Ram Nath Kovind, the Hon'ble President of India, at an official function held in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on Tuesday, 26^th June, which is the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking declared by the United Nations. On behalf of the Institute, the Award was received by Prof. Ajit Avasthi, Head, and Prof. Debasish Basu, from the Department of Psychiatry.

Prof. Jagat Ram, the Director of PGIMER Chandigarh, was very glad to hear the news and he congratulated the entire team of DDTC for the hard work over the past 30 years to make it truly deserve this national award. Earlier, the DDTC was declared a Centre of Excellence by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in 2013.

Starting with a humble beginning in 1988-89, over the past 30 years the DDTC has intensively pursued its mandate of demand reduction, creating trained manpower for primary to tertiary care, and conducting high quality innovative research covering a wide range of areas in the field of addiction psychiatry. DDTC faculties have received accolades from the State Governments, National and International agencies, for their sustained contribution in the field of addiction psychiatry. In fact, DDTC was the first in the country to have started the super specialty course DM in Addiction Psychiatry from January 2014. It has provided important consultancy, technical input, training of professionals, and a comprehensive model of de-addiction services (the "Punjab Model") that is being implemented by the Govt. of Punjab. Its future vision is to further enhance the capacities of specialist training, more community-grounded service, and cutting-edge research in the field of addiction psychiatry.