Drive against sugary drinks, tobacco picks up pace

Islamabad : Tobacco and sugary drinks are harmful for health and PANAH has announced to intensify a public awareness campaign in this regard.

A meeting of various organisations was held Thursday under the auspices of PANAH in which doctors, HDF, SPARC, Nijat Trust, Kidney Welfare, Women Welfare, Fatima Malik Association, tobacco victims, journalist, and lawyers participated.

PANAH President Maj Gen Masudur Rehman Kiani said in a telephone address that PANAH has been fighting for 36 years to protect the public from heart disease. Tobacco and sugary drinks are harmful to human health where they can lead to an increase in diseases. There are reasons why their use weakens the immune system, which makes it difficult to fight diseases like coronavirus, we all have to work together to prevent it.

PANAH General Secretary Sanaullah Ghumman said in his address that the budget is coming. The mafia has also jumped into the fray to solve its goals. This mafia is also a mafia from the sugar mafia which gives wrong numbers to the government every year on budget days. Last year, the Cabinet passed a surcharge bill that has not been implemented. So PANAH did its best to include this Surcharge Bill in the budget and implement it and raised its voice on every platform, he said.

“We are very grateful to the media for spreading our voice everywhere. In this regard, PANAH also wrote letters to the Prime Minister, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance and Health and other authorities. It is hoped that this will yield positive results,” he said.

Doctors, political, media, lawyers’ organizations and other leading personalities in their respective speeches said that the awareness campaign on the dangers of tobacco and sugary drinks should be intensified. “If we start the struggle from a single platform, it will yield positive results,” they said.