Over 80,000 follow-ups a year mark turning point in war against drugs

Srinagar, Jan 17: Considered a drug den until recently, Kashmir’s de-addiction centres now pulse with return visits and second chances.

With follow-ups eclipsing new cases, de-addiction centres are quietly rewriting Kashmir’s war against drugs, turning relapse into recovery through medicine, family, and sustained care.

More and more people are seeking treatment with every passing year.

With over 80,000 follow-up visits in a year, and over 1000 new patients registering for treatment of substance disorders, a ray of hope is shining in thousands of lives.

From April 2024 to March 2025, 80,099 Outpatient Department (OPD) follow-up visits were recorded at Community General Hospital Unit, SMHS Hospital, Srinagar, the centre housing Kashmir’s largest and most holistic De-Addiction Treatment Centre.

By any calculation, over 250 people, having registered themselves for substance abuse treatment, visit the centre every day.

The centre, with many cabins for consultation, and many chambers for counseling, with admission facilities and recreational and vocational windows as well is beaming and buzzing.

Anguished youngsters and anxious parents accompanying them spend hours in search of a hope to get the loved ones out of the grip of addiction.

The sheer number of follow-up visits proves that hope is found in abundance over the tables where doctors record the details and dole out advice and treatment.

The de-addiction programmes blend medication-assisted treatments for opioids, the commonest drug of abuse in Kashmir.

Treatments are culturally sensitive and include family involvement and community reintegration.

Professor of Psychiatry and in-charge of the De-addiction Center at SMHS Hospital, Dr Yasir Hussain Rather said, “We are averaging an admission in a day or two, but the real win is in the follow-ups. Patients return for opioid substitution and other therapies, and they do wish to win the fight against drugs.”

He shared how patients go from “1 hit a day to 365 days clean”.

“These are numbers of resilience,” Dr Rather said.

In the year gone by, from April 2025 to November 2025, 71,112 follow-up visits were recorded, while 1227 new patients enrolling themselves for substance addiction treatment.

In the 2024-25 fiscal year, the number of new patients was 1614.

The new patient registrations dipped from 3036 in the 2022-23 year.

The number of new patients has seen a downward dip over the recent past.

Experts hail this as a victory.

Many district-level de-addiction centres have been operationalised in Kashmir, decentralising treatment facilities and fostering long-term recovery for thousands.

De-addiction centres have become operational at Pulwama, Kulgam, and many GMC hospitals across J&K.

De-addiction facilities have also been made fully operational at SKIMS Medical College Hospital.

“Help is now closer to home for many people. This is the reason we are seeing fewer new cases here,” Dr Rather said.

The follow-ups comprise 98 percent of OPD activity at his centre.

Dr Rather said that the centres located in other districts are a sustained support and turn one-time seekers into lifelong recoveries.

“These places are busy every day, with counselors and doctors managing 20-30 long-term follow-ups per session,” he said.