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Reigning Miss India Elite Dr. Priyadarshini Borah attends to a patient at the free medical check-up on Friday in Dimapur. Naga beauty queen Imtibenla, in red, is also seen in the image.[/caption]
Staff Reporter
Dimapur, May 5 (EMN): Reigning Miss India Elite 2016 and India’s representative to the Super Model of the World 2017, the 25-year old Dr Priyadarshini Borah–a professional physician–showed her solidarity with a group called the Young Naga Professionals (YNP) during a free medical check-up on Friday, May 5, at the Dimapur District Badminton Association’s Indoor Stadium in Dimapur.
Seen attending to patients along with four other doctors Dr. Temjennungsang Longchari, Dr. Thungbemo Humtsoe, Dr. Kihoto, and Dr. Abangdi Changkiri, the beauty queen said that she would like to treat as many patients as possible here ‘so that the patients are benefitted through this free check-up camp.’ She hails from Norgaon in Assam and is said to be the first beauty queen in India who is working as a professional doctor.
Dr. Borah said it did not take time for her to say ‘Yes’ and be part of YNP’s initiative.
The free medical camp was organised by the YNP to ‘create more health consciousness among the people’ besides providing free medicines to the needy. The intention of the camp was to provide free check-up and medicines for free to all age groups with the first priority to the poor and senior citizens.
However, it was disappointing to see only a small number of people availing the opportunity.
Dr. Temjennungsang Longchari, recipient of Indian Health Professional Award, “best practicing dentist of the year,” called tobacco consumption a ‘social issue’ as it affects both the user and the family.
Expressing concern at the high intake of tobacco products in Nagaland, Dr. Longchari said that ‘out of ten patients’ that he sees, ‘at least three’ chew or use tobacco in one form or the other. The highest number of users was found among school children.
There are two stages that tobacco users go through before being diagnosed with oral cancer: pre-cancerous lesion and pre-cancerous condition which he said was found to be high in the state.
“Nicotine is an addictive substance and those consuming tobacco substance need to be aware of its effect and more focus for awareness should be given to children,” Dr. Longchari said.
He also disapproved pan masala brands marketed as “tobacco-free.” He remarked that even those pan masala products contain high levels of nicotine, as revealed by a study commissioned by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
The laboratory analysis of randomly picked pan masala brand samples by the Central Tobacco Research Institute at Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh has revealed that Rajnigandha pan masala contains 2.26 gm of nicotine per 100 gm of pan masala, which is advertised as ‘No tobacco, no nicotine’. This documentation was made available by Dr. Longchari during interactions with Eastern Mirror at the camp.
He was critical: the tobacco industry has been instrumental in spreading the ‘tobacco epidemic’ globally through aggressive marketing campaigns.
“Supari (betel nut or areca nut) is a confirmed cancer causing substance and leads to many other diseases. The epidemic of mouth cancer cannot be curtailed without a comprehensive prohibition of tobacco advertising, promotion and selling these lethal products freely as packaged mouth fresheners,” the specialist remarked.
Nonetheless, he was optimistic that the National Tobacco Control Programme of Dimapur was putting all efforts to spread awareness on the ill-effects of tobacco.
YNP is not a registered club or society but an informal group of young Naga professionals who have made a mark through talent and hard work. The members are just a group of friends, who came together with an aim to encourage, inspire and contribute to the society.
