Smokers flock to mobile clinic for help to quit

UMM AL QUWAIN // Hundreds of smokers visited a mobile health clinic during a three-day initiative to help people give up the habit.

The “I quit and now it is your turn” antismoking event, held by the Ministry of Health, gave smokers a full health check to reveal the extent of the damage to their lungs and organs and to determine the best methods to help them quit. “We started on December 18 and will finish on December 20. Our doctor does the check-up for visitors and gives them medical advice and instructions for quitting smoking.

“Our health educators were also there to make them aware about the risks of smoking,” said Salma Saleh, head of the health education department at UAQ Medical District.

Dr Bader Azam, a general prac- titioner who also works at the smoking cessation clinics in the emirate, said many of those who turned up had been smoking for many years.

“We do general medical tests including blood pressure, diabetes and body weight and mass. Then we examine the amount of carbon monoxide in their bodies. “We also ask them how they started smoking with a questionnaire to determine how much they are addicted to it.”

Dr Azam said that most smokers could quit easily with the right advice.

“Treating nicotine addiction is possible through tablets and nicotine patches and gum. But if smoking is a habit, this might be harder to treat. In this case we ask them to avoid sitting with their smoking friends, change their eating and drinking habits and do exercise.”