DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 28 : Tobacco kills 63 lakh of people a year in India, which itself says that the narcotic is an agent of mass destruction. 57% of Nagaland’s population are tobacco users and ranks the state at second, among the highest tobacco users in the country.
This startling report was given by Dr. C Tetseo, Dimapur district’s nodal officer of the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) on Wednesday September 28.
Dr. C Tetseo was speaking as the resource person at the seminar on tobacco control organised by Diphupar Naga Students’ Union (DNSU) at the Agri Expo 4th mile in Dimapur. The event was conducted with the theme “Tobacco, as agent of mass destruction”.
As per the nodal officer of NTCP, 1 crore 75 lakh people die due to heart problem, 82 lakh people die due to cancer, 40 lakh people die due to respiratory failure and 1.2 lakh die due to diabetes; and all these are related to tobacco said Dr. Tetseo while deliberating on the topic “Tobacco: an agent of mass destruction” .
Stating tobacco use an epidemic, Dr. Tetseo said the Nagaland situation is alarming that cannot be accepted as normal which will also cause many people to die from tobacco related case.
He challenged the leaders and church leaders to take stand to stop this epidemic and appealed upon schools to practise the ‘No tobacco norm’ while likening tobacco death to be equal with HIV/AIDS related death.
Dr.Rohan Ramesh, MD Community Medicine (C.I.H.S.R) deliberating on the topic “community program for anti tobacco” conveyed that young people have lots of pressures in life which is also the main factor for consumption of tobacco related products.
While lauding the efforts taken by the Diphupar area in controlling this epidemic, he remarked that this alone will not help but the community has to come together with their selfless contributions. Dr.Ramesh also called on the Church to play an active role in controlling tobacco use while expressing that local law can also be adopted to control the epidemic.
“It is not only on the government to bring out regulations but the community should also take steps to control” opined Dr.Ramesh.
Accounting the survey conducted by the department across Diphupar area, he informed the gathering that there are around 182 shops selling tobacco which is a lot for an area. And to stop this, he conveyed that unless we stop consuming the shops will continue to sell the products whether there is a ban on the products or not.
He concluded by offering to adopt the seven letters ‘empower’ that embodies ‘engaging community, monitoring of tobacco use and prevention, protecting people from tobacco, offering help to quit tobacco use, warning about the danger of tobacco, and enforcing bans on tobacco products, and ‘resisting pressure’.
