Punjab’s Drug De-Addiction Registry Portal (DDRP) marks a major leap in the state’s fight against opioid addiction. Integrating Aadhaar-based biometric verification, AIpowered face recognition, and real-time drug inventory management, DDRP eliminates fake enrollments, prevents medicine pilferage, and ensures transparent treatment delivery. The unified digital registry allows patients cross-centre access and enables administrators to monitor anomalies instantly. By merging technology with governance, DDRP strengthens accountability, safeguards public resources, and builds renewed trust in Punjab’s de-addiction ecosystem.
Punjab has long been at the forefront of India’s struggle against opioid addiction. To confront this crisis, the state has built a wide network of Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment centres and partnered with private facilities to provide safe, affordable, and sustained treatment. These centres were designed to be places of hope — where patients could begin the difficult journey from dependence to recovery.
But alongside this progress emerged a set of hidden challenges. The very medicines meant to heal were vulnerable to pilferage and diversion. In some cases, patients were enrolled under duplicate identities; in others, gaps in manual record-keeping allowed leakages in the supply chain. Fake beneficiaries, ghost enrollments, and unmonitored drug inventories weakened the system, raising doubts about accountability and undermining the trust of both patients and citizens.
It was clear that treatment alone was not enough — the state needed a digital shield to secure the integrity of its de-addiction ecosystem. The Punjab Health and Family Welfare Department, with the support of NIC Punjab, responded with an innovation that combines governance with technology: the Drug De-Addiction Registry Portal (DDRP). By embedding Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, AI-powered face recognition, and real-time inventory management, DDRP ensures that medicines reach only genuine patients, every record is transparent, and every dose is accounted for.
This initiative represents more than a software system. It is a commitment to restoring confidence, protecting resources, and strengthening the fight against addiction through the power of digital governance.
The Challenge
While Punjab has invested in a network of Out-patient Opioid Assisted Treatment centres and private facilities, systemic gaps left the programme vulnerable:
- Pilferage and diversion: Medicines meant for patients often leaked into the illegal market due to weak supply controls
- Fake and duplicate enrollments: Ghost beneficiaries, forged identities, and multiple registrations consumed resources without delivering care
- Manual and fragmented data: Paper-based registers and isolated records resulted in duplication, delays, and poor visibility
- Restricted patient access: Patients were tied to a single centre, and treatment continuity was broken if medicines were unavailable there
- Weak accountability: Without real-time monitoring, anomalies were only discovered during periodic audits
