Soon the tobacco addicts in the state will be offered Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) so that it can help them to overcome their addiction. Despite counselling a large number of tobacco addicts are unable to quit their habit of smoking or chewing tobacco thus NRT will prove helpful to them.
National Health Mission (NHM) mission director Dr Jitendra Kumar Soni in a two-day workshop said that soon NRT will be included in the Essential Drugs List (EDL), so that tobacco users who are counselled to quit tobacco are offered help to overcome their addiction.
A two-day State-level Multi-stakeholders Workshop and Consultation on Tobacco Control, Tobacco Vendor Licensing and WHO FCTC 5.3 was organised in Jaipur on Thursday. It was organised by SRKPS in collaboration with the Department of Medical and Health, Government of Rajasthan and the International Union Against Tuberculosis & Lung Disease (The Union).
Dr Soni said that Community Health Officers (CHOs) in the state will be trained to inform people about ill-effects of consuming tobacco and help them quit it. He said Rajasthan has been a leader in tobacco control programmes and two campaigns carried out for 100 days and 60 days respectively in 2022 and 2023 had an impact on the people of the state.
He also asked the stakeholders to submit the report and suggestions of this two-day workshop so that it will help in making Rajasthan a tobacco-free state.
National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP), state nodal officer Dr SN Dholpuria speaking about the achievements of the Health Department in tobacco control, appealed to the people to contribute to society in the field of anti-tobacco to save people consuming tobacco from lethal diseases.
Rajasthan Cancer Foundation president and a cancer expert Dr Rakesh Gupta, sharing a presentation said that the ‘End Game of Tobacco’ is being talked about at the international level. He said that a policy has to be made for End Game of Tobacco in which panchayats are to be made tobacco-free, tobacco products to be sold only by the license holders, safeguarding tobacco-free generation from getting lured to tobacco consumption and uniform taxation on all tobacco products.
NTCP state consultant Narendra Singh said that tobacco prevalence in the state is 24.7%, which will be reduced by 30% to 17.29% by 2025. He also informed that a Digital Health Survey is being conducted in Rajasthan in which people are also asked about tobacco use. Currently, more than 3 crore people in the state have been surveyed and around 25 lakh tobacco users have been identified. The CHOs will help the identified tobacco users in their areas to quit tobacco.
In other sessions, Supreme Court advocate Ranjit Singh explained in detail about the tobacco control laws in India and provisions to regulate smokeless tobacco and paan masala. He said that as per the existing laws these products can be banned with immediate effect.
Shri Deepak Mishra, Executive Director, Socio Economic & Educational Development Society (SEEDS), Jharkhand informed about the tobacco control programme carried out and its results in Jharkhand. Similarly, The Union regional deputy director Dr Rana J Singh shared about the Tobacco Industry Interference and Uttar Pradesh Voluntary Health Association representative Vivek Awasthi informed about the interference of tobacco industry in Uttar Pradesh.
SRKPS chief executive officer Rajan Choudhary said that the first day of the workshop concluded on holding a discussion on making a draft for Tobacco Free Generation. SRKPS project officer Jyoti Choudhary moderated the sessions and gave a vote of thanks.
