Mumbai: A survey conducted by the Prince Aly Khan Hospital, Mazgaon, in association with the Manipal University, has revealed that 25 per cent of the students, between 10 and 19, studying in city municipal and private schools, are getting increasingly habituated to smoking and having other tobacco-related products.
The officials said the student population in Mazgaon area and its surrounding localities is nearly 8,000 to 10, 000. “We had conducted a survey in 30 municipal and private schools in which 1,000 children were surveyed,” said a doctor.
He further said they had prepared a questionnaire related to tobacco products and their side effects. The questionnaire was distributed to students studying from class five to nine. The survey report was prepared on the basis of the answers they received from the students. The findings were glaring AND revealed that “one in every four students between the age group of 10 and 19 is addicted to smoking,” according to a senior doctor. Tobacco products are the main cause of oral cancer; yet, students are addicted to smoking from school days. Most students are unaware that it contains nicotine, which is harmful.
“Parents, teachers and tobacco vendors in the area were also interviewed to find out local attitudes towards the problem,” said a doctor. “We appreciate the government’s crackdown on hookah parlours. As part of the survey, we found that hookah was highly popular among students. We also found it alarming that a high number of children, who, despite knowing the health hazards and links between oral cancer and tobacco, still continue to consume it,” said Dr Kranti Raymane, head of the community health department at the hospital. He further stated that there are already many studies at the national and international level that show the increasing tobacco consumption by youngsters.
“But, we thought it was better to conduct our own survey, find out the ground realities and plan focused interventions with the help of the government,” he added. Dr Rayamane said that while it was difficult to ascertain if the study represented the situation across the city, but it definitely indicated a trend among youngsters, exposed to tobacco products.
“We requested officials and teachers to formulate a tobacco intervention program as part of the school curriculum so that it can become a people’s movement,’’ Dr Rayamane added. A senior doctor of Prince Aly Khan Hospital said that a special campaign would be conducted from the month of December to prevent children from getting addicted.
According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, published in medical journal The Lancet earlier this year, more than 11 per cent of 6.4 million deaths worldwide were caused by smoking in 2015, of which 52.2 per cent took place in China, India, USA, and Russia.
