PESHAWAR: The Lady Reading Hospital has established a smoking cessation clinic to help people addicted to smoking cigarettes.

The clinic has been established at the Outdoor Patient Department, and it would be operational from 12pm to 2pm every Monday, Dr Ehtesham of the pulmonology department of LRH said.

He said a consultative meeting on the draft action plan proposed legislative reforms regarding e-cigarettes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Chairing the meeting, deputy director of public health Dr Majid appreciated the efforts of the hospital management, staff and praised the idea of the clinic.

Dr Ehtesham said the smoking cessation clinic would initially focus on staff members of the hospital. He said smokers were treated with two separate medicines, depending on the level of addiction to nicotine besides judging withdrawal severity.

He said the number of smokers in Pakistan constituted about 23 per cent of the population.

He said according to World Health Organisation, in 2018 there were around 24 million smokers in the country, and the number had since surged to 27 million.

The participants of the meeting stressed the need for awareness about hazards of smoking, especially the modern modes of addiction, including e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches and sheesha.

The participants also suggested holding seminars in educational institutions to sensitise the students.

Published in Dawn, February 29th, 2024