22 May,2011 08:55 AM IST | | Priyanka Vora
An associate professor from the Tata Memorial Hospital received the WHO director's recognition award for initiating a campaign to ban tobacco products
A Mumbai doctor has bagged the World Health Organisation director's recognition award for his role in curbing the tobacco epidemic in India. Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, who is an associate professor of the Head and Neck Department of the Tata Memorial Hospital, received the recognition (South-East Asia region) for initiating an aggressive campaign for banning tobacco products that cause an estimated 10,000 crore deaths annually in the country.
"Around 90 per cent patients who are diagnosed with cancer of the head and neck have a tobacco history and 50 per cent are at an advanced stage. Despite treatment, they survive for just a year. When a doctor warns people, no one pays heed. So, we envisaged a 'voice of victims' (VOV) interface where patients who had lost a part of their body, owing to cancer, spoke about the adverse effects of tobacco on their lives, and family," said Dr Chaturvedi.
One third of all cancers seen at the Tata Memorial Hospital are tobacco-related, he said. Most patients diagnosed with cancer maintain that they weren't aware of the harmful effects of tobacco. "No one counselled them against tobacco. When such patients came together, the VOV was formed. They now counsel others and are pressing the government to ban tobacco products. The government believes the ban will cut down on revenue, but it will also reduce money spent on treating patients suffering from tobacco-induced cancers at public hospitals. Besides, the loss of human life can never be measured," he added.
Did you know?
Dr Chaturvedi coined the term Smokitoons (anti-smoking cartoons) and created a website with nearly 100 anti-tobacco cartoons he had drawn. The cartoons are aimed at educating kids about tobacco hazards.
