Shanthi Ranganathan's mission was born out of a personal tragedy; her husband died young of alcoholism. Determined to fight alcohol, she trained in treatment of addiction at the Hazelden Institute in the US and set up the T.T. Ranganathan Clinical Research Foundation in Chennai with support from her parents-in-law, Padma and T.T. Narasimhan of the TTK Group.

Help for all: The deaddiction programme includes training the family;

TTK began as a day-care centre for alcohol addicts is today the 60-bed TTK Hospital, a deaddiction and rehabilitation centre. "Addiction to alcohol or drugs is a chronic disease which the patient and his family have to acknowledge first and then get treated," says Shanthi.

The hospital offers a month-long residential programme including identification of addicts, counselling, detoxification and after-care. Treatment begins with an initial assessment of the patient to confirm the level of addiction. The patient is made aware of his problem and admitted to the primary residential treatment programme. Then comes the medical management or detoxification of the patient. Once the patient is physically stable, he is given psychological therapy, which includes community meetings, counselling, group therapy, art therapy and self-help programmes. Some of the well-trained staff at the hospital are rehabilitated addicts themselves. They are able to empathise with the patients and their success stories motivate the addicts.

The After Care Centre at the hospital was set up with financial assistance from the European Commission and Industries of Madras. It helps deaddicted patients get back to the mainstream through a three-month programme.

Besides attending to patients seeking treatment, the hospital has been running rural outreach programmes in Tamil Nadu. A qualified team goes to each district and provides treatment for drug and alcohol abuse. It also prepares the community to deal with ex-addicts

.The hospital also conducts vocational training in tailoring and electrical repair work to help the patients earn a living.

The hospital is running a new programme called the Harm Minimisation at Kodambakkam in Chennai for people hooked to intravenous injections.