Chandigarh: More than 26,700 de-addiction tablets have gone missing from the Outpatient Opioid-Assisted Treatment (OT) Centre at an Aam Aadmi Clinic in Kishanpura Kalan village of Moga district. The tablets, used for opioid de-addiction treatment, were allegedly stolen by two employees posted at the centre.
Police have registered a case against the accused and launched an investigation to recover the missing medicines and ascertain the circumstances surrounding the theft.
According to a complaint lodged by the centre’s Medical Officer, Dr Abhijeet Singh, the first theft took place on the night of March 16-17. When staff reached the clinic the following morning, they found the main gate lock broken and the electricity supply disconnected. A total of 13,900 tablets of 0.2 mg strength and 460 tablets of 0.4 mg strength were found missing.
A second incident came to light on May 22, when another 12,778 tablets of 0.4 mg strength were discovered missing during stock verification.
Following the second theft, a departmental inquiry raised suspicion against two employees of the centre. Based on the findings, police registered an FIR against Love Kumar and Simranjot Singh alias Simar.
The alleged thefts continued over a period of nearly three months, drawing criticism of the Moga Health Department over its delayed response and for approaching the police only after the second incident came to light. Police said further investigation is underway to recover the stolen tablets and determine whether the medicines were diverted for illegal use.
