World No Tobacco Day 2013: Chennai on an anti-tobacco drive

No one said that quitting smoking was easy, but on World No Tobacco Day today, Chennai seems earnest in its fight against tobacco consumption, and the city will see a host of activities to create awareness.
“This year’s theme for the World No Tobacco Day is banning tobacco products’ advertisements, promotion and sponsorships. We are organizing a few street plays and will display anti-tobacco placards at various parts of the city.At the Marina beach, we’ll have paintings and a massive sand sculpture to create awareness among the public,” says Dr P Vadivelan, Joint Director of Public Health.
In the past few years, Chennai has also witnessed an increasing number of people who desire to kick the habit, and are employing scientific means to achieve it. “There are three different types of treatments available — behavioural counselling, nicotine replacement therapy, and medication. The kind of treatment differs from person to person,” explains RM Karthik Lakshmanan, a city-based counselling psychologist.
Take the case of A Anwar, a blogger in the city who is also writing a book on anti-tobacco usage. He says, “A few psychological therapies and regular support meetings at a city hospital helped me quit smoking. I still make it a point to attend the support group meetings. The discussions are mostly around practical and simple methods, and they really work.”
However, a few city doctors opine that despite the high levels of awareness and anti-smoking campaigns and laws, the battle is far from being won. Even the incidence of lung cancer has not seen any climb down. Dr Arvind Krishnamurthy, Additional Professor, Surgical Oncology, Cancer Institute, Adyar, claims, “Contrary to the general notion, we see an increase in the number of patients. Surprisingly, an increasing number of women are also found to be fighting the malignant disease. This should be a wake-up call for smokers to stub that cigarette butt forever.”