The CMH Lahore Medical College (CMHLMC) organised a seminar on the World No Tobacco Day on Thursday to create awareness among the youth, students and the general public about the health hazards of tobacco smoking and the various techniques for smoking cessation.
The theme of the seminar was ‘Smoking or Health, Choice is Yours’. A large number of faculty members, students and people from different walks of life attended the seminar.
CMHLMC Physiology Department Head Prof Shahid Hassan was the chief guest at the seminar.
Eminent medical professionals delivered speeches to highlight the importance of the day as well as the epidemiology of smoking, the health hazards related to tobacco smoking, the Anti-Smoking Law of Pakistan, smoking cessation techniques, smoking trends among the youth and control measures, the rising trend of sheesha smoking among the youth, smoking and drugs and women and smoking.
CMHLMC Community Medicine Head Prof Dr Muhammad Ashraf Chaudhry discussed the health hazards related to tobacco smoking such as emphysema and impotence among males and infertility, premature births, abortions and low birth weight of babies among female smokers.
He added that in Pakistan about 40 percent of the males and nine percent of the females were smokers and that the trend of smoking was increasing among students.
At present, about 28 percent of Pakistani students are smokers, while
100,000 people die annually in Pakistan from diseases caused by tobacco smoking.
