CHANDIGARH, July 27 — Women across Punjab have emerged as crucial pillars in the state’s ‘Yudh Nashean Virudh’ initiative, assisting family members through addiction treatment and rehabilitation. During an awareness session held in Moga, community members and health officials noted that the active involvement of mothers, wives, and sisters is transforming the broader effort into a community-led movement.
Speaking on the subject, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh affirmed that family participation forms the core of successful rehabilitation, with government de-addiction centres now integrating structured family counselling into patient care protocols.
“Behind every successful recovery there’s a family, a community, and a government system that chooses hope and compassion. Mothers, wives and sisters are becoming the torchbearers for the change towards a healthy, addiction-free, and Rangla Punjab,” stated Dr Balbir Singh.
Personal accounts shared during a regional conference titled “Menace of Substance Abuse – Uncovering the Burden on Women” at SFC College, Jalalabad, demonstrated how domestic support networks help overcome substance dependence.
Ragini Kaur, a resident from Ludhiana, stated that professional treatment coupled with domestic care enabled her husband to achieve complete sobriety. “My husband was a drug addict since before our marriage. But I only came to know about it once we started living together. We had lost all hope when someone guided us to take him to a drug-de-addiction and rehab centre. And that helped,” she stated, adding that they subsequently assisted another relative in seeking similar medical care.
Similarly, Balwinder Kaur from Buttar Kalan in Moga affirmed that structured guidance helped rebuild her household. “Addiction had broken our family emotionally and financially. Counselling taught us that recovery is a journey in which the whole family plays a role. I took my husband to a de-addiction centre. Today my husband has turned completely sober,” she declared.
District Nodal Psychiatrist from Ludhiana, Dr Arvind Goyal, maintained that clinical treatment yields optimal outcomes when complemented by steady domestic encouragement. He asserted that family members help ensure treatment adherence and long-term stabilization.
