Free guide · De-addiction & rehabilitation centres · Union Territory
Delhi is the one jurisdiction in this guide series that isn't really comparable to the others. It's home to India's apex national de-addiction institution, its SMHA registration system exists specifically because a court found a person detained against their will in an unregulated centre, and it uses its own 1953-era nursing home law rather than the central Clinical Establishments Act most other states have adopted.
Delhi is notably absent from the list of 19 states and Union Territories that adopted the central Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010 — every official source tracking that Act's adoption explicitly carves out "all Union Territories except the NCT of Delhi." Instead, Delhi still runs on the Delhi Nursing Homes Registration Act, 1953, one of the oldest still-active healthcare registration laws in the country, administered by the Nursing Home Cell of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Delhi.
Only private hospitals and nursing homes that function round the clock, offer indoor admission (a minimum of two beds), and practise a modern system of medicine are registered under this Act, so a purely outpatient counselling service falls outside it. Unlike most clinical establishment regimes elsewhere which renew annually, Delhi's nursing home registration is renewed every three years. Historical fee schedules under the Act's rules were tiered by bed count, though these figures have likely been revised; confirm the current fee directly with the Nursing Home Cell rather than relying on any specific number here.
SMHA Delhi's origin is unusually well documented, and it's worth knowing the actual story, because it shapes how the Authority still operates. In 2017, the Delhi High Court examined a case in which a person had allegedly been detained against their wishes in a de-addiction centre, and found there was no real regulatory policy governing these facilities at all. In its order dated 21 September 2017, in WP(C) 8217/2017, Nikhil Borwankar vs GNCTD, the Court directed the government to bring de-addiction centres, Long Stay Homes, Half-Way Homes and General Hospital Psychiatric Units under a proper regulatory framework.
Delhi government orders nearly 300 private centres across the city to suspend services for operating without any regulation.
Formal minimum standards notified under the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, defining three categories of de-addiction centre and setting concrete staffing and infrastructure requirements.
The 2018 minimum standards define:
Broadly detoxification-focused, under roughly one month.
Extended residential rehabilitation.
Treatment centres for substance abuse along with other psychiatric disorders.
These standards were drafted by consulting the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment's 2009 standards, AIIMS's own de-addiction centre guidelines, and an SMHA draft, adapted for Delhi's specific context. Staffing requirements are concrete: a counsellor must be a graduate in Clinical Psychology, Psychology or Social Work with at least six months of de-addiction service experience, and even psychiatric nursing homes already licensed under the Mental Healthcare Act that provide detoxification must separately maintain these prescribed minimum standards.
There is no mandatory pre-registration inspection; the onus is on the centre itself to meet and maintain the standards, and the Authority relies on surprise checks or complaints to catch problems after the fact. Dr Nimesh G Desai, Director of IHBAS, has served as Member Secretary and CEO of SMHA Delhi, meaning IHBAS functions as the Authority's operational home base, a useful thing to know if you need a direct point of contact.
Per its own FAQ, the Authority's non-official members are selected after public advertisement in one English and one Hindi daily newspaper, per Rules 5 and 6 of the Mental Healthcare (State Mental Health Authority) Rules, 2018. Its composition explicitly includes a person with lived experience of mental illness, caregiver representatives, and two representatives of NGOs providing services to persons with mental illness — the first time Indian mental health law required user and carer representation on a regulatory body.
There's no Delhi-specific de-addiction statute layered on top of the NDPS Act, so a centre dispensing buprenorphine or another controlled substance in Delhi operates under the same general NDPS Act, 1985 and Schedule H1 framework that applies by default without a dedicated state law like Punjab's or Haryana's. Delhi does not host one of the Central Bureau of Narcotics' opium-cultivation field offices (those sit in Neemuch, Kota and Lucknow), since Delhi has no legal poppy cultivation. The Narcotics Control Bureau, India's central drug law enforcement agency, is however headquartered in New Delhi.
Unusually among the jurisdictions covered in this guide series, Delhi's own Department of Social Welfare publishes a detailed, named directory of every NAPDDR-supported de-addiction centre in the city, both NGO-run and government-run, which is worth reading in full before you plan a location or partnership.
Mostly 15 to 30 beds each: multiple centres run by SPYM (Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses) across Vasant Kunj, Dakshinpuri and Daryaganj; Manav Paropkari Sanstha in Mahipalpur and Khanpur; Turning Point Foundation in Alipur; Samaj Sewa Sangh in Brahm Puri and Dilshad Colony; Muskan Foundation in Vikas Puri and Dwarka; and Bhartiya Parivardhan Sanstha in Nand Nagari. Cited for planning context, not as endorsements.
50 beds, India's national apex de-addiction institution.
30-bed de-addiction unit, Department of Psychiatry.
40-bed Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre (DATRC).
5 beds.
50 beds, run by the Department of Women and Child Development, admission via Child Welfare Committee.
Weekly de-addiction OPD at GB Pant Hospital and Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital.
Department of Psychiatry de-addiction service.
30-bed model de-addiction facility.
For scale and context: a 2018 report from the intersectoral committee monitoring Delhi's de-addiction centres estimated 70,000 street children in Delhi used some form of substance (20,000 tobacco, 9,450 alcohol, 7,910 inhalants, 5,600 cannabis, and 210 pharmaceutical drugs), a reminder that Delhi's de-addiction infrastructure serves a genuinely large and varied population.
The National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC), AIIMS, on a 10-acre campus in Ghaziabad, Delhi-NCR, isn't just one more Delhi facility — it's the country's designated apex institution for substance use disorder treatment, training and research.
Established 1988, upgraded to national-centre status in 2003, recognised as a WHO Collaborating Centre on Substance Abuse.
Runs India's DM (Addiction Psychiatry) programme (since 2015) and PhD in Addiction Psychiatry (since 2010). Most of the country's addiction-medicine specialists trained here or under faculty who did.
Conducted the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment's 2018 National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India, the data source that underlies NAPDDR planning nationally.
~4,000 new and 35,000 follow-up patients a year through OPD and ward services, plus ~33,000 through community clinics in Delhi's urban slums. Specialised clinics for tobacco cessation, dual diagnosis, adolescents, women and behavioural addictions.
Separately, IHBAS itself runs the Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre (DATRC), recognised as Delhi's nodal centre for drug abuse and alcoholism, advising the Delhi government directly. It runs twice-weekly outpatient services plus a 20-bed inpatient facility, and specifically handles patients with dual diagnosis of substance use and psychiatric illness. If you need a single institution to model your clinical protocols on, or a natural referral and training partner, this is it.
The Delhi Nursing Homes Registration Act, 1953, administered by the Nursing Home Cell of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Delhi. Delhi did not adopt the central Clinical Establishments Act, 2010, unlike most other states and UTs. Registration is renewed every three years, not annually.
SMHA Delhi was created following a Delhi High Court order dated 21 September 2017 (WP(C) 8217/2017, Nikhil Borwankar vs GNCTD), which found no real regulatory framework governing de-addiction centres after a person was allegedly detained against their will in one. The Delhi government responded by suspending nearly 300 private centres in April 2018 and then notifying formal minimum standards in September 2018.
No. There is no mandatory pre-registration inspection; the onus is on the centre to meet and maintain the published minimum standards. The Authority relies on surprise checks or complaints to catch problems after registration.
Short stay (broadly detoxification-focused, under roughly one month), Long stay (extended residential rehabilitation), and Treatment centres for substance abuse along with other psychiatric disorders (combined SUD and psychiatric care).
A counsellor must be a graduate in Clinical Psychology, Psychology or Social Work with at least six months of de-addiction service experience, per the 2018 minimum standards notified by SMHA Delhi.
The National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre at AIIMS, on a 10-acre campus in Ghaziabad, Delhi-NCR, is India's apex institution for substance use disorder treatment, training and research, a WHO Collaborating Centre on Substance Abuse. Most of India's addiction-medicine specialists trained there or under faculty who did. It is a natural protocol, training and referral partner for any serious private centre in Delhi.
Yes. Delhi's Department of Social Welfare publishes a detailed named directory of every NAPDDR-supported de-addiction centre in the city, including NGO-run and government hospital-based centres, with names, bed counts and addresses.
No. Delhi has no dedicated de-addiction centre statute comparable to Punjab's or Haryana's. Controlled substance dispensing operates under the general NDPS Act, 1985 and Schedule H1 framework.
The Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Dilshad Garden, is the operational home of SMHA Delhi and runs the Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre (DATRC), Delhi's nodal centre for drug abuse and alcoholism. It advises the Delhi government directly and handles dual-diagnosis patients. A useful first contact point if you need to reach SMHA Delhi directly.
SMHA registration gets you the licence. The NDPS dispensing log, minimum-standards records and 3-year renewal cycle are what keep it. MindFlow builds all of that into your normal clinical workflow.
See the de-addiction suite →Informational, not legal advice. Reflects publicly available sources as of August 2026, including historical fee schedules under the 1953 Nursing Homes Act that have likely been revised since their original notification. Confirm current requirements directly with the Nursing Home Cell (DGHS), the State Mental Health Authority, Delhi, and a lawyer qualified in Indian health and narcotics law before making licensing or investment decisions.