OUR government is lagging behind the rest of the world in its tobacco-control measures. Tobacco kills more people every year in Pakistan than suicide bombings, road traffic accidents and drug abuse combined.

A pictorial health warning on cigarette packs is one of the important strategies that are recommended by the WHO to educate the public on smoking hazards. This warning has helped many countries in reducing the number of cases of heart and lung diseases and strokes as well as more than 20 types of cancer.

The tobacco industry may not be as concerned about the health consequences of smoking but the government should give importance to the fact that around 100,000 Pakistanis die every year as a direct result of smoking.

As a health professional that sees patients suffer and die every day from smoking, I request the prime minister to give some thought to this issue.

Prof Javaid Khan

Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2016