Say no to tobacco: 20m Pakistanis hooked on tobacco

KARACHI: There are around 20 million smokers in Pakistan and they spend Rs2 billion on it annually.

The pro-vice chancellor, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Prof. Umar Farooq, said this at a workshop against the use of tobacco to mark the World No Tobacco Day. It was held at the Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases (OICD), DUHS, on Monday.

Prof. Farooq said that about 1 billion people are using tobacco all over the world of which 25 per cent are females. Around 3.5 million die every year due to diseases caused by tobacco. “If steps aren’t taken, the figure may increase to 10 million by 2020,” he warned.

Dr Iftikhar Ahmed, the director of OICD, said that gutka is used at a large scale in the suburban areas of Karachi, causing an unprecedented rise in cases of mouth cancer. A smoking cessation clinic is held at the Ojha campus.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2011.