Border districts of Punjab were recorded as the highest incidence of drug abuse and seizures. Now, these border districts recorded the highest death rate among the infants aged 28 days and one year. The main cause of the death in many cases is unexplained.
These details have been revealed in the records that are maintained by Punjab health department which shows the long-term effects of drug abuse in the region. These infants die early because of the ill health.
Last year Punjab’s drug problem was studied by All India Institute of Media Sciences and Delhi’s National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre and estimated that from the total population of 2.77 crores near about 2.3 lakh people were opioid-dependent. 8.6 lakh people were found to be opioid users and 1,23,414 people were Heroin-dependents.
The current figures show that around 973 infants died in Amritsar, 56 and 331 died in Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran districts last year. All these three districts have the border with Pakistan from where the heroin is smuggled into India.
Total 3,978 children lost their lives between April and December r last year in Punjab. Out of which 1,648 were girls and 2,330 were boys
