National Technical Agency

National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), AIIMS

NDDTC, AIIMS is the lead technical agency, chosen by the MoSJE, Govt. of India , and is responsible for conceptualization of the survey, planning the scientific aspects including methodology and technical coordination among all the collaborators at the National and Regional level. While NDDTC, AIIMS will take the lead in scientific and technical aspects of the survey and partner with other medical institutes of repute for this purpose, the operational and management responsibilities for data collection for the survey will be discharged by the agencies selected for this purpose.

NDDTC has multi-disciplinary faculty and staff (psychiatrists, pre-clinical scientists, biostatisticians, social scientists, research staff, nursing staff, laboratory personnel and administrative staff) to undertake the responsibilities assigned to the centre. Clinical care is provided through outpatient settings, inpatient settings and community clinics. Help is available for the treatment of disorders related to use of all types of psychoactive substances. Treatment is provided by a multi-disciplinary team of experienced professionals combining both pharmacological (i.e. with medications) and non-pharmacological (i.e. psychological / social) approaches. The centre carries out relevant haematological and biochemical laboratory tests to monitor health damage, and screens drugs of abuse simultaneously through urine analysis.

The Centre has been involved in:

• Assessing the magnitude of drug abuse in the country.
• Providing hospital and community based clinical care to patients through daily OPD, special clinics, wards and community clinics in underdeveloped areas of Delhi.
• Health education for prevention and early identification of substance use disorders.
• Manpower development – training of various healthcare personnel categories.
• Establishment of specialized laboratories to detect drugs of abuse in body fluids.
• Documentation, publication of resource material and creation of national databases.
• Scientific research on epidemiological, public health and clinical aspects of addictions.

The Centre provides clinical care to about 10,000 new patients and about 50,000 follow-up patients every year. In addition, the centre runs specialized clinics for Tobacco Use Cessation, Dual Diagnosis, Adolescents, Women and Behavioural Addictions.

Roles and Responsibilities of NDDTC, AIIMS as the National Technical Agency:

• Conceptualization of the survey and development of scientific protocol, survey questionnaires, record keeping and reporting mechanisms.
• Selection of strata in the states, districts within the strata and PSUs within the districts as per the statistical methodology outlined in project document.
• Selection of households within a PSU after completion of mapping / listing.
• Engagement and coordination of collaborating regional medical institutions.
• Receipt of funds from MoSJE and disbursement to Regional Medical Institutions.
• Preparing criteria / TORs for selection of IRCAs, State-level Master Trainers and Data Collection Staff.
• Development of comprehensive resource materials (training agendas, manuals for Household and RDS surveys, assessment tools).
• Guiding development and quality assurance of survey IT infrastructure and mobile software.
• Conducting National Training of Trainers (ToT) and facilitating Regional Training sessions.
• Supervision, field monitoring and quality assurance across all collaborating institutions.
• Leading thematic specialized studies, data analysis, ethical oversight, and comprehensive national reporting.