As many as 5000 people in the country are admitted to hospitals everyday due to tobacco-related diseases. Some 274 die daily and more than 100,000 die every year due to smoking. The worldwide deaths caused by the use of tobacco are above 5 million every year. This was stated by Consultant Pulmonologist SIH Dr Mati-ur-Rehman during a seminar with the theme of “trial against tobacco” organised at Shifa International Hospital (SIH) to mark World No Tobacco Day on Thursday.
The purpose of the seminar was to educate public on the harms, hazards and effects of smoking on health. A court was formed to conduct trial of tobacco and convict it. Three professional lawyers from Rawalpindi Bar Council including Khawaja Noman-ul-Haq, Amer Abbas Malik and Zahid Raza came to play the roles of judge, prosecution counsel and defense counsel respectively. The judge charged the tobacco (role was played by a student of Shifa College of Medicine (SCM) Saim Bin Saeed in a dress with proper cigarette and tobacco’s products labels, but tobacco rejected the charges and asked to face the trial.
Then prosecution counsel presented his witnesses who were eminent health experts including Consultant Cardiologist SIH Dr Saeedullah Shah, Consultant Oncologist SIH Dr Kamran Rasheed and Dr Mati-ur-Rehman. Defense counsel presented Mishal Shah, a medical student of SCM as her witness in favour of smoking. After hearing witnesses and arguments from both the sides, the judge convicted tobacco and banned its use in all forms including pan, gutka and sheesha.
The event was attended by a large number of people including a group of students from Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi. SIH President and CEO Dr Manzoor H Qazi thanked the audience, the lawyers and the media for their support to create awareness in masses on the harms and effects of tobacco.
Dr Mati said half of the Pakistani men are regular smokers and about 55 percent families in Pakistan have at least one person who smokes. He said sheesha was equally injurious to health. He said major part of household income was being spent on smoking rather on health and education. Thus smoking is badly impacting our economy as well. He was of the view that smoking causes an estimated 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths in men and 80 percent of all lung cancer deaths in women. An estimated 90 percent of all deaths from chronic obstructive lung disease are caused by smoking.
Dr Saeedullah Shah said when a cigarette company anywhere in the world earns $5000, one smoker dies. “I would say they kill a smoker every time they earn $5000,” he stated. He said it was alarming that above 70 percent people with cardiovascular diseases are smokers. Smoking causes failure to taste food; it shrinks arteries and causes various cardiac diseases. He said smoking is major cause of heart attack. “Heart attack death rate is 70 percent greater in male smokers than non-smokers”, he added.
Dr Kamran Rasheed said various cancers including acute myeloid leukemia, bladder cancer, cancer of the cervix, cancer of the esophagus, kidney cancer, cancer of the larynx (voice box), lung cancer, cancer of the oral cavity (mouth), cancer of the pharynx (throat), stomach cancer and cancer of the uterus are caused by direct smoking, secondhand smoking, chewing tobacco and using pan, gutka or sheesha. “Smokers face an increased risk of certain types of throat and stomach cancers, even years after they quit,” he remarked.
