Villages should remain healthy for the growth and development of Nation- Admiral (retd) Joshi
Wednesday, 01 June 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
More than 5 lakh people took a pledge to abstain from tobacco on the occasion of World No tobacco Day in Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
Programmes were organised on the day in the universities, colleges, schools and government offices in which the students, faculty members, public representatives and employees took a pledge. A state level programme was organised in the Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) on the occasion. Speaking in the programme as chief guest, the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar islands, Admiral (retd), D K Joshi said the villages of the country are the wheels of development of the country and they should remain healthy in the interests of the nation. He said that the objective of the tobacco free Uttarakhand programme is to develop a tobacco free society and for it the state government has taken a target to reduce the consumption of tobacco by 15 per cent by the year 2025. He added that participation of villages is very important in the campaign against tobacco. Joshi said that the number of patients of chest and respiratory diseases are more in the mountainous areas in Uttarakhand and tobacco is one of the main reason for it.
Speaking on the occasion, the health and education minister of Uttarakhand, Dhan Singh Rawat said that under the tobacco free Uttarakhand, awareness campaign is being conducted in different parts of the state. He said that tobacco free pledges were administered in 5000 places in the state on Tuesday in which more than five lakh people took pledges to remain away from the tobacco. Under the programme, the state government has taken a target to make two villages in every block free from Tobacco usage. Rawat said that one of the priorities of the state government is to strengthen the health services in the state.
The director general (DG) medical education, Ashish Srivastava said that 26.5 per cent people in Uttarakhand use tobacco out of which 4.9 per cent smoke cigarette and 15.7 per cent use Biddi. He claimed that the awareness programme against Tobacco has been successful in reducing the usage by five to six per cent and it has reflected in increase in average age expectancy of tobacco consumers. Srivastava said that the two third of tobacco consumers are planning to leave its usage.
The health services DG Dr Shailja Bhatt, vice chancellor of Uttarakhand medical university Dr Hem Chandra, GDMC principal Dr Ashutosh Sayana, faculty members and students participated in the programme.
