‘Smoking a gateway to top six preventable diseases’

Smoking is the mother of top six preventable diseases, including cancers, heart ailments and stroke, said renowned pulmonologist Prof Javed A Khan on Thursday. 

Speaking at an awareness session titled “Quit 2 Win” at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), he demanded of the government to drastically increase the price of cigarettes in Pakistan to make the ill-habit unaffordable for youngsters. 

He said cigarettes were available in Pakistan at a very low cost as compared to the other countries. “Developed countries have made cigarettes unaffordable for their citizens and due to that, smoking is on the decline in those countries,” he said.

The awareness session on smoking was organised by the AKUH Marketing and Communications Department in collaboration with the Health Committee of Karachi Press Club (KPC) in connection to World No Tobacco Day.

Prof Javed A Khan, who is a prominent campaigner against smoking and eating tobacco products, said that at least 100,000 Pakistanis die annually due to smoking-induced diseases, including cancers, heart ailments, lung diseases, stroke, asthma and COPD.

He said people in the country consumed cigarettes worth Rs200 billion in 2011 alone. “It shows the amount of money earned by the tobacco industry in Pakistan.” Prof Khan said the government should increase the price of a pack of cigarette to Rs500. “The sale of loose cigarettes should also be banned.”

Asking Muslim smokers to utilise the holy month of Ramzan for smoking cessation, Prof Khan urged the authorities to implement anti-smoking laws. Health journalist and KPC health committee secretary, M Waqar Bhatti, discussed ways and techniques to quit smoking.

He said professional guidance should be sought from the experts like Prof Javed A Khan in this regard and all the available medical and psychological resources must be used to get rid of the tobacco addiction.

“Once a person decides to cease smoking, he should keep reminding himself that he has to quit smoking. At an appropriate time, he should quit at once under the guidance of a professional medical expert, who would help him in overcoming the withdrawal symptoms. Family support in this regard plays an important role and prevents the risk of relapse,” he added.

He told the participants of the awareness session that quitting this ill-habit was very much possible as hundreds of people were now living around them who had successfully gotten rid of the addiction of smoking. 

Bhatti said it was “only a two-week game before one gets rid of physical addiction of the nicotine” and that could be achieved with the help of Nicotine gum, medicines and medical support from medical practitioners.