PM REQUESTED TO BAN TOBACCO COMPLETELY

A senior faculty member of the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) has written to the prime minister requesting for a complete ban on tobacco, its farming, processing and sale in all forms. Other experts asked people to quit tobacco during different programmes organised on World No Tobacco Day, on Monday.

“The annual combined tax revenue from tobacco is Rs 31,000 crore and the cost of medical expense upon tobacco related ailments is Rs 1,04,500. Hence, I humbly request to ban tobacco completely,” said Prof Suryakant, HoD respiratory medicine KGMU, wrote in his letter to the PM. “This year the theme of World No Tobacco Day is quit tobacco to be a winner. WHO says today can be Day One in an effort to quit tobacco,” said Prof Rajendra Prasad, director Medical Education and HoD Pulmonary Medicine, Era’s Lucknow Medical College and Hospital. “The process of quitting tobacco has to start from the person himself and the first thing is to make up one’s mind,” said Dr Sudhir Singh, spokesperson of KGMU, in another programme. Speaking in another awareness programme with the theme ‘commit to quit’ Prof Vinod Jain, dean paramedical sciences said, “Once you leave tobacco consumption, your heart rate becomes normal and the carbon level in the blood goes down”