Tamil Nadu may soon get ten new tobacco cessation clinics at district-level hospitals in places including Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Salem and Dindigul.
These clinics will have a doctor and a staff nurse, and offer both counselling and pharmacological options to those who are attempting to stop tobacco use.
“At present, we have about 80 such clinics across the State, but they only offer counselling. We want to bring in other options too, in order to help people quit,” said State tobacco control officer P. Vadivelan.
A proposal for the setting up of these clinics has been sent to the Central government and once sanction is given, work will begin on setting them up, he said.
Report releasedIn 2011, the economic burden faced by Tamil Nadu due to tobacco use was Rs. 1,171 crore, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) study, a report of which was released on Wednesday. Of this, 79 per cent constituted direct medical costs and 21 per cent, indirect morbidity costs.
As per the report, released at a meeting organised by the Mary Anne Charity Trust (MACT) and WHO, along with the Voluntary Health Association of India, the economic costs for four tobacco-related diseases — cardiovascular diseases, cancers, tuberculosis and respiratory diseases — alone amounted to Rs. 467 crore.
For the country as a whole, in 2011, the total economic costs attributable to tobacco use by persons aged between 35 and 69 amounted to Rs. 1,04,500 crore. Use by males contributed to 91 per cent of the economic burden.
“While the tobacco campaign has gained ground and achieved significant milestones, we can get more aggressive with it. Many people do not know that extensive tobacco use can have an effect on one’s reproductive health as it affects the motility of sperms. Focussing on the ill effects of tobacco, especially through media, such as Facebook and WhatsApp, can help take forward the movement,” said director of public health K. Kolandaisamy.
S. Balasubramanian, joint director (epidemics), Directorate of Public Health, said high tobacco usage in homes could lead to SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).
S. Cyril Alexander, executive director of MACT, and Prasanna Kannan, State consultant for the WHO on tobacco-free initiatives, also participated in the meeting.
