Mumbai: More than 40 per cent of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) employees suffer from pre-cancer symptoms, according to a survey published in the British Medical Journal.
Doctors said that despite knowing that consuming tobacco can lead to cancer, the drivers continue tobacco consumption out of curiosity or for ‘time pass’.“The study also revealed drivers or conductors are addicted to tobacco with 90 per cent of them dependent on smokeless tobacco consumption,” said a doctor.
Dr Gauravi Mishra, Professor of Oncology Department, one of the authors of the report said one in five bus conductors and drivers of Mumbai are found positive for oral cancer screening due to excessive tobacco consumption, found a recent study of 4,000 public transport bus employees. “The main aim of the initiative was to educate the taxi drivers and make them understand that consuming tobacco in any form can lead to cancer.
We had also conducted an oral examination for the taxi drivers to detect pre-cancerous symptoms or cancerous lesions in them. It was revealed that 42 per cent of them have cancerous symptoms,” she added. The study was conducted to understand the knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding the harmful effects of tobacco among the bus staff.
Since October 2, 2008, smoking has been prohibited on public transport in India as the smoking was banned in public places. “Of all the participants, 1,691 (42.28 per cent) were tobacco users with the smokeless form of tobacco use being dominant at 1,561 (92.31 per cent).
About 743 were screened positive for oral pre-cancers in the primary evaluation and 592 were referred for clinical diagnosis of their symptoms,” read the report. Cases of oral cancer have drastically increased due to the use of tobacco products in all forms. “There is less awareness among the citizens that consuming tobacco is totally wrong which leads to mouth cancer.
Most of the time, bus drivers say they consume tobacco so that they do not fall asleep while driving,” said Dr. Pankaj Chaturvedi, a head and neck surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital. “We do not have any option as we work day and night. It has become a habit and out of curiosity and for time-pass we are consuming tobacco,” a bus driver said.
However, BEST officials said the study is a part of their three-year-long tobacco cessation programme under which over 15,000 employees have been counselled for tobacco de-addiction and 5,000 have already quit consumption of any kind of tobacco.
“Under the programme, we have counselled over 15,000 BEST employees and conducted oral screening for 12,000 of them. While pre-cancerous lesions were found in 10 per cent of them, 90 per cent of the patients underwent biopsies at TMH,” said an official.
