NMC directs all medical colleges to set up 'tobacco cessation centres'

NEW DELHI: The National Medical Commission (NMC) has directed medical colleges across the country to set up 'tobacco cessation centres' to combat the adverse effects of tobacco use and promote public health. This initiative aims to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure by integrating specialised services for tobacco cessation into the educational and healthcare framework, a circular issued by the NMC on Friday stated.

"In line with its commitment to promoting public health and combating the adverse effects of tobacco use, the government has decided to establish tobacco cessation centres in medical colleges across the country," it said.

"All the hospitals attached to each of the medical colleges are directed to make provisions for 'tobacco cessation centre'. This can be a special clinic run by the Department of Psychiatry and/or other departments," the circular said.

These centres should also be established in rural and urban health centres that the college has adopted for training. These centres along with tobacco cessation, will also work as 'drug de-addiction centres, the circular added. According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey in India (GATS 2) 2016-17, a staggering number of individuals are tobacco users.

Studies have shown that India has the second largest number of tobacco users (268 million or 28.6 per cent of all adults in India) in the world - of these at least 1.2 million die every year from tobacco related diseases. Nearly 27 per cent of all cancers in India are due to tobacco usage.

The total direct and indirect cost of diseases attributable to tobacco use was a staggering Rs 182,000 crore which is nearly 1.8 per cent of India's GDP. Tobacco smokers are at a higher risk of developing TB and experiencing more severe forms of the disease.