Hooch fear: Alcoholics want to kick the habit

As the dust settles on the hooch tragedy, the innumerable deaths from the consumption of the spurious liquor have come to haunt the relatives of alcoholics in the city, many of whom have approached de-addiction centres.

The de-addiction centre of Kanoria Hospital has seen a sharp increase of around 20 per cent in the number of enquiries in this regard over the past few days. The police department too is doing its bit in helping alcoholics get in touch with de-addiction centres.

“People seem to be very worried about their relatives addicted to liquor. The number of patients will increase by a good amount in the next few days,” said Dr Rajendra Anand, chief executive officer, Kanoria Hospital, Gandhinagar. “Many relatives of alcoholics have called up the hospital asking about the procedure for admission.”

Many people unable to acquire their regular amounts of liquor because of increased police vigilance since the hooch tragedy have begun to show withdrawal symptoms, in some cases even resulting in death, Dr Anand said.

As many as 150 alcoholics have been brought to the de-addiction centre at the hospital with the aid of the police. “Most of the alcoholics have been suffering withdrawal symptoms as they had not consumed liquor for several days,” said Dr Anand, who is also a counsellor at the de-addiction centre.

Many alcoholics from Amraiwadi, Bapunagar, Odhav and Ramol, which were affected by the hooch tragedy, as well as other areas like Asarva, Meghaninagar and Sardarnagar were identified by the concerned police stations and taken to Kanoria Hospital in two batches.

“All alcoholics have volunteered and requested help from the police in breaking the habit,” said Ajay Chaudhary, deputy commissioner of police, Zone V. Chaudhary was present at their first counselling session, at 10 am on Saturday.