By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In a shocking revelation, seventy out of every hundred person in Meghalaya is an alcoholic, a figure that rings an alarm for the State.
The assertion came from a Psychiatrist from Mumbai, Dr AL Deshpande while he was addressing the one day interactive session on, “Presentation on alcoholism and AA as a Resource for Help” held at Martin Luther Christian University (MLCU) in the city here on Friday.
He made the assertion based on a Study conducted on random-basis in the region even as he said that the percentage stands at 60 percent in Assam and 53 – 55 per cent in metro cities of the country.
It may be mentioned that Deshpande was also the expert on the panel for alcoholism on popular Amir Khan’s ‘Satyamev Jayate’ 9th episode and Ex class Trustee of AA, India.
According to Deshpande, the alcoholism-problem in the State does not confine to only males but even women are more vulnerable to such problem.
He also said that it is difficult to determine the actual liquor consumption percentage in the region due to the increased unchecked illegal sell of liquor which pose a great challenge to determine the actual liquor consumption percentage in the region.
It may be mentioned that liquor shops in Shillong and Meghalaya are opened up at any place without caring for the religious places, schools and even hospitals.
“The illegal sell of liquor in the region is four – five times higher than that of the legal alcohol sold in the open market compared to all India which is only 3 times,” he said.
It was learnt during the address that 1/3rd of suicide cases, 60 per cent of head injuries, 80 per cent of emergencies related cases and 40 per cent job absentees are associated with alcoholism affecting the society and its subjects
However, he also said that of the 40,000 people who were said to have recovered from the problem in India, 80 are from Shillong while only 15 are from Guwahati.