Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 29: A one-day workshop on ‘Tobacco Control’ was organized by International Union against TB and Lung Disease and J&K Voluntary Health Association in collaboration with Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), here at Townhall.
JMC Commissioner, Kiran Wattal, was the chief guest while Joint Commissioner (Administration), JMC, Kapil Sharma, presided over the function.
While speaking on the occasion, Coordinator, International Union against TB and Lung Disease, Dr NC Prabhakar, disclosed that India is at number three in the production of Tobacco products in the world. He further revealed that Jammu and Kashmir has high incidence of smoking and is becoming the Lung Cancer Capital of India due to increased smoking prevalence across all the sections of the society.
In J&K more than 2.3 million of people use Tobacco out of which 21.9% use Tobacco in smoking form, Dr Prabhakar said, and expressed fear that about eight lakh of them may die untimely due to serious Tobacco related diseases.
He also explained various steps taken by the Government to control Tobacco use, to the participants and urged them to work for Tobacco Control programme.
During the workshop, the District Health Officer explained the ill effects of Tobacco consumption through power point presentation while Deepika Thusu explained various sections of COTPA.
Ashutosh Sharma, a young professional associated with NGO also spoke on the occasion about the role of civil society in Tobacco Control Programme.
The other speakers were Assistant Controller Drug Education Officer and Food safety Officer.
The workshop concluded with vote of thanks by Dr Prabhakar.
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