Patiala, Nov. 1 -- The number of people seeking treatment for drug addiction at Punjab's Outpatient Opioid-Assisted Treatment (OOAT) clinics continues to rise, with fresh registrations showing an uptick of nearly 12% in the first nine months of 2026 compared to the corresponding period last year.

According to health department data, 14,471 new patients registered at the state's 529 OOAT clinics between January and September this year, against 12,941 during the same duration in 2025 - representing an increase of 1,530 fresh registrations.

The figure is also significantly higher than the 10,187 new registrations recorded during the corresponding nine-month period in 2024, marking a rise of around 42% over two years.

While the numbers poi...