“THERE IS NO SAFE WAY TO SMOKE”
No matter how you smoke it, tobacco smoking is extremely dangerous for our health. The prevalence of tobacco smoking and its dependency has alarming figures worldwide with the digits accelerating progressively not only among the elders, but also among the adolescents.
To apprehend the severity of this frightful public health concern and to promote awareness amongst its faculty and staff members, the Bahria University Medical and Dental College organized a skill-building workshop on “Building capacity for tobacco cessation counseling and practice of health care professional”. The facilitator for the session was Dr Sobia Bilal, who is currently working at the International Medical University in Malaysia.
Dr Sobia Bilal started the session very enthusiastically introducing the audience to the epidemic of tobacco smoking and its addiction in our society: the effects of tobacco smoking on one’s quality of life, its effects on our bodies and health in general, its addictive potential and its various preparations available in the market were crux of the presentation. She went on to speak on the various ventures of government of Pakistan designed to eradicate this nuisance from our society. At the end of the workshop she educated the audience about the measures such as counseling, behavior modification and use of medications that can be undertaken to help in dealing with tobacco dependency. She emphasized the role of society, communities and legislations to put a break on the cultivation and import of tobacco in our country so that a clean, healthy environment may be established for us and our future generations.
The facilitator was highly praised by all the participants for an enlightening workshop. The Director General of BUMDC, Rear Admiral (Retd) Imtiaz Ahmed HIM, Dean of Health Sciences Prof. Asadullah Khan, Princpal Dental College Prof. Wahab Bakhsh Qadri and Vice-principal Dr.Kulsoom Fatima Rizvi presented a Memoir Shield to the guest speaker to honor her valuable contribution.