A tobacco cessation clinic has been established by the Government Chest Clinic (GCC) on its premises as part of various initiatives undertaken by the GCC marking World COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) Day on Friday.
According to Dr. S. Govindarajan, State Nodal Officer, National Tobacco Control Programme, the scope of this clinic will be to educate smokers/tobacco users about the ill-effects of tobacco, provide treatment for asthma, COPD and provide psychological support. The clinic will function on Fridays.
The World COPD Day is observed globally under the auspices of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), a WHO organisation, aiming to improve awareness and care for the potentially fatal disorder. A survey of Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) in 2016-17 revealed that a substantial proportion of men and women had a shot at quitting smoking or tobacco use in any form.
The survey revealed that the number of current tobacco users (69.2%) who wanted to quit and those chewing tobacco (57.8%) was slightly higher than those who attempted in 2009-10, said Dr. Suriya Kumar, State Consultant for National Tobacco Control Programme.
