Nimhans plans ward
CITY www.bangaloremirror.com/city
for women addicts
Cases of women falling prey to alcohol and drug abuse have gone up from 15 a year to almost 100
A
Neethu.Reghukumar
@timesgroup.com
growing number of women getting
addicted to drinks and drugs has made
Nimhans sit up and consider setting
up a separate ward in the de-addiction
centre.
Dr Pratima, professor of psychiatry and
chief of the de-addiction centre, said, “The
ward is still in the planning stages but by April,
we will decide when it will be functional.”
Talking numbers, she said, “In a year, our
de-addiction centre gets around 75 to 100 cases
of women. It was hardly 15 cases two or three
years back.”
What made Nimhans act was not only
the surge in alcoholism and substance abuse
among women, but also a United Nations
study on Women and Drug Use in India, in
2008. And, of course, the ground realities.
For, not many women addicts want to get
admitted in the other psychiatric or neuro
wards.
ACROSS SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUPS
Addicts in their 20s and 30s are mostly from
the upper classes, with alcohol being the No 1
addiction, followed by pharmaceutical drugs
including sleeping pills and anti-depressants.
However, the malaise is seen across socio-eco-
nomic classes.
For instance, Dr Pratima said, there was a
More youngsters are
case of a mother and daughter coming in for
treatment. “The mother, 50, was brought in
becoming addicts due to a
as she was suffering from fits, the effect of
alcoholism, while her 24-year-old daughter’s
changed lifestyle, availability
marriage was on the rocks due to her depend-
ency on alcohol. They were from a middle
of alcohol and stress
class family and did not have financial sup-
port since the father had passed away some
time back.”
WOMEN’S HEALTH AFFECTED EARLY
According to doctors, women start drinking
later than men but problems surface much ear- health issue that affects women are fits and
lier with them, be it physical, mental or social. they are more prone to infections since they
Dr Pratima said, “The most common are more likely to indulge in activities that
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. 190.00 Lacs for 78 Weeks (Whole upfront
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BangaloreMirror
INDIA PICTURE
FOR WOMEN ONLY
Though there are 18 to 20 de-addiction cen-
tres in the city, only one of them is exclusively
for women. Divya Bajaj, director, Miracle
Foundation at Dodda Gubbi in Kothanur, said,
“Though there is an increase in the number
of women addicts, the number that seeks
help is less because of the stigma and also
because many don’t know who to approach.
It has been three-and-a-half years since we
started. We have 15 beds and most times, at
least 13-14 are occupied.”
could lead to Sexually Transmitted Diseases
(STDs) or HIV.”
It’s normally friends and family who bring
in the addicts for professional help. “It’s very
rare for the addicts themselves to identify their
growing dependence on alcohol or drugs. Or
people come due to associated health issues or
social problems such as broken relationships,”
she said.
REASONS WHY
There are several reasons why youngsters fall
prey to drinks and drugs – a changed lifestyle,
availability of alcohol and stress.
Dr M J Thomas, consultant psychiatrist,
Sagar Hospitals, also attributes it to the fact
that there is no longer a cultural sanction
against women drinking.
“Also, there is an increasing number of
young girls going out for parties including rave
parties and getting hooked to drugs. Many of
these girls come from smaller places and there
is no one to stop them here as their family is
living away.”
TREATMENT
For treatment, a patient is admitted for three
to four weeks. Dr Pratima said, “Detoxification
is the first process, then there’s medication,
and counselling for both the individual and
family.” There are regular follow-ups for a year
or two.
CITYBRIEF
CONG-JD(S) TO MOVE
MLAS’ DISQUALIFICATION
ADJOURNMENT MOTION CASE HEARING TODAY
The opposition Congress and JD(S) will A full bench of the Karnataka High
move an adjournment motion on Mon- Court will resume hearing on petitions
day in the state assembly, seeking a de- filed by five independent MLAs chal-
bate on alleged corruption charges lenging their disqualification from the
faced by chief minister B S Yeddyurap- assembly membership in October under
pa’s government, according to party the Anti-Defection Law.
sources. The opposition parties are like- The resumption of hearing today comes
ly to raise land scams that have taken in the backdrop of the Supreme Court
place in Karnataka Industrial Area De- dismissing a petition by BJP chief whip
velopment Board, Bangalore Develop- D N Jeevraj last month. Jeevraj had
ment Authority, besides alleged nepo- challenged the High Court order allow-
tism and favouritism by ing the MLAs’ plea for making assembly
Yeddyurappa.The report of the Supreme speaker K G Bopaiah and chief minister
Court-appointed Central Empowered B S Yeddyurappa as parties in the case.
Committee indicting tourism minister G D Sudhakara, P M Narendraswamy, M
Janardhana Reddy for his alleged in- Venkataramanappa, Goolihatti Shekar
volvement in illegal mining is also likely and Shivaraj Tangadagi were disquali-
to be raised. fied on October 10. PTI
| MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011 4
IDEAS@WORK
MANU PRASAD
START-UPS WITH, AND THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE
liked/hated this column? write to
bmfeedback@indiatimes.com
A touch of class
to electronics
A
Srikanth Narayanam with Sai Prasad, a colleague
device to change the colour and intensity of
light, with just a touch. That's the first prod-
uct from Anek Technovations, which designs
and builds innovative electronic products. In
conversation with the founder, Srikanth Narayanam.
ORIGINS
first start up, I have START UP-TO-DATE
Though this is my
more than 10 years Company: Anek Technovations
experience working Domain: Designing and
for organisations in building innovative
manufacturing, ven- electronic products
dor development, R Founder: Srikanth Narayanam
and D, corporate Founded in: Sep 2010
strategy, product Funding: Bootstrapped
marketing and inter-
national business development. This gave me a wide
exposure. In May 2009, while at Cypress
Semiconductors, I realised I had a lot of product ideas
and began looking for relevant organisations for sup-
port. I left Cypress in March 2010, and incorporated
Anek (meaning many in sanskrit) in Sep 2010.
ELEVATOR PITCH
Electronics is our starting point because we can relate
more to it. Anek builds electronic products, with pro-
grammability and touch interface as key design ele-
ments, to address emerging challenges of the 21st
century lifestyle in emerging economies like India.
We not only build our own products, but also help
others (in electronic design) bring their ideas to life.
GAMEPLAN
We have two lines of business — services and prod-
ucts. As part of service, we offer other organisations
electronic design and development support to build
products. We are currently executing a product for
an external client. As for products, we started with
gCOLT(generating coloured light with touch). It’s a
small touch-sensitive control for LED lights with
which one can generate different colours of light.
One can also change the intensity of light and also
automate the colour changing process, all with just
a touch. Our clients/distribution channel are retail-
ers in the lighting business (mainly LED). Our focus
is on in-house product development along with
some service component. We have finalised our
next product. The immediate task is to launch the
new product within the next year.
THE CHALLENGES
Manufacturing products in India is a great chal-
lenge, especially for a start-up with no previous
credibility. There were plenty of difficulties during
development phase as well.
REWARD: FAME, MONEY, THRILL?
The satisfaction of doing building an organisation
of innovators and generating wealth for all.