Opinion : Say ‘No’ to Tobacco and Smoking

A part of my diary entry on my work, I am sharing this on World  No Tobacco Day.

Are you into ‘nasha mukti‘(sarcasm for de -addiction) ? This is the way my initiative is referred as. Even after working hard for it, I couldn’t see the appreciation but its still not an issue, if my effort can bring a positive change in even 1 out of 50 persons. We have all seen a warning before movies but does anyone take it seriously ? Unfortunately, no. It has in fact become a topic to banter around “Mukesh” memes (The warning before movies depicts a person named Mukesh suffering from Cancer due to tobacco usage). Our apathy is such that often its just for the sake of doing visuals of smoking or alcohol that it is flashed with a warning in such a small format at  the corner of the screen nobody cares about. So what ? According to officials, things are improving as we have increased the warning area of the pictures on the boxes of pan masala and cigarette.

However, an honest reply from a patient whom I asked whether the image on the packets scared him about his health awakened me to the real issue. His reply was as expected ‘ma’m aajtak kuch ni hua aage bhi nhi hoga’ (I’m fine till date, so nothing will happen in future as well). This is the problem ,the ignorance we have in the mind of people. India has such a huge global burden of oral cancer patients (around one-third ) and tobacco being the major reason behind it. For the maximum pre-cancerous lesions, the chief complaint was always about pain in tooth which indicates the level of ignorance we have. Still there is a ray of hope that there are individuals who are aware and want to quit. Some of my experiences, led me to believe this. I encountered a cab driver who need help and said , “Mam please help me out; I want to get out of it.” Another experience included a corporate employee who got into the habit with his peers taking smoke breaks  and wanted to break the habit. Sadly, I have seen both the sides. One battling to live saying, “I wish somebody was there to warn at that time.” The other glorifying it and is least bothered with the confidence that nothing will happen to him/her. Any individual will never want to see the scary lesions and the sufferings the patients have. On a serious note, warnings flash just one case out of thousands out there. According to World Health Organization(WHO), India is home to 12% of the worlds smokers. More than 10 million individuals die each year. Isn’t  it sufficient to be an eye opener ?

This pandemic is a golden chance for all the smokers and tobacco users out there – save yourself .It is the time to quit and secure yourself from the disease and disability, and have healthy lungs which can easily fight the virus. No tobacco leads to high immunity – this is what you have been running after in this pandemic then why not now ?

Now lets consider this from the corporate point of view. A smoker tends to take longer and frequent breaks as a result of which the organisation suffers because of the reduced productivity and a significant reduction in work performance. Smoking also disturbs the hormonal balance resulting in an increase in anxiety and a decrease in concentration level. It not only has a huge impact on the person who smokes but is also highly harmful for the people around as it exposes them to secondary smoke. According to a report an average smoker wastes around 6 days an year on work breaks . A person aged 30 if smokes 5 cigarettes a day will spend around Rs.  1 crore till he is 60 :  the amount which could have been spent to develop a healthy lifestyle. Once an employee suffers due to their habit, high medical expenses and insurance costs ultimately  cause a huge economic loss.

Now on the part of an HR strict smoking policies must be framed  and disciplinary action must be taken against those who violate these rules. In addition to this, initiatives for those who  themselves want to quit should be organised at times. Employees should be motivated to attend cessation clinics. In the end a workplace with healthy, cheerful employees taking required breaks will be a win-win situation for the organisation.

In the end, the message is quite clear : QUIT SMOKING ,MOTIVATE OTHERS

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