Smoking in women damages newborns' health

LAHORE:PGMI/AMC principal and gynecologist Prof Dr Al-freed Zafar has said growing trend of smoking in women is a big threat to them and their babies.

“As smoking women suffer from many problems due to which newborns enter this world with many congenital diseases. Premature births and low birth weight in infants are more likely to be smokers’ women fate because many babies cannot even celebrate their first birthday which is a matter of great concern for society,” he said while addressing an awareness workshop on "Smoking and its Problems" held at Lahore General Hospital.

Professor of Pulmonology Dr Khalid Waheed, Associate Professor of Medicine Dr Israr-ul-Haq Toor, Dr Irfan Malik and Dr Abdul Aziz elaborated on harmful effects of cigarettes and other drugs.

Prof Khalid Waheed and Dr Israr-ul-Haq Toor disclosed that 1,200 youths in Pakistan are addicted to smoking every day due to which all the organs of the body are badly affected and very dangerous diseases arise which lead to fever, tuberculosis, lungs and increase the chances of getting cancer.

Dr Irfan Malik and Dr Abdul Aziz said that smoking has a bad effect on the lungs as well which creates long term problems for human body. Talking to the media, Principal PGMI Prof Dr Al-freed Zafar said according to the World Health Organisation, about one lakh people die in Pakistan every year while around 80 lakh people around the world die due to various diseases due to smoking.

Tobacco is the cause of 90pc of all deaths from lung cancer and 20pc from all types of cancer in the world, he said. He appealed to the media, civil society, social organisations and physicians to launch a large-scale awareness campaign against smoking and other drugs.