Injecting Drug use (IDU) is recognised as a major mode of transmission of HIV in india and elsewhere. The national aids control organization (NACO) has adopted harm reduction as a strategy to prevent HIV among IDUs.
OST involves sustitution of injecting opioid drugs with oral medication that effectively minimizes craving and withdrwals, and thereby enables IDUs to stop injecting drugs. OST Centre is the first pilot project which was started in 5 districts of Punjab:- Bathinda, TaranTaran, Amritsar, Jalandhar, and Ludhiana. Our OST centre started in year  2010 and since then it has proved to be successfull in reducing drug related harms including HCV and  and HBV transmission in the IDUs.
Treatment in this centre is given on daily basis by using Buprenorphine through sublingual administration under supervision of trained staff which is given free of cost. Approximately 450 patients daily are taking treatment from our centre which has contributed in reducing relapse rate and risk of transmission of chronic diseases like HIV and HCV.