Cancer doc’s plea to Mamata

Cancer surgeon Pankaj Chaturvedi pens for Metro his reaction to chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s suggestion that smokers smoke a little more to raise money for victims of the Saradha deposit scam. Chaturvedi, a professor at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, is a leading anti-tobacco campaigner in India.

I would sincerely request Mamatadi to visit our hospital in Mumbai or any cancer hospital in Calcutta. I am a cancer surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.

It is well known that cancer patients from Bengal are one of the biggest contributors to our workload. Bengal’s cancer burden is overwhelming and fast increasing as elsewhere.

It is impossible to create treatment infrastructure that can match this rapidly rising burden. Nearly half of these cancers are caused by tobacco. Ninety per cent of mouth cancers and two-thirds of throat/lung cancers are caused by tobacco. Most of these patients die within 12 months of diagnosis because of the advanced stage of the ailment at the time of detection. According to a survey by the ministry of health and family welfare in 2010, every second man and every fifth woman in Bengal use tobacco. When we translate this into real figures, a staggering 2.5 crore people in Bengal are tobacco users. This tobacco-related statistic has earned a dubious distinction for Bengal as the factory of cancer.

According to the WHO, tobacco kills every third user prematurely through lethal illnesses such as cancer, heart attack and stroke. Such is the power of addiction that only 2 per cent of these addicts are able to quit tobacco. That too after getting fatal illnesses.

A global youth tobacco survey by the WHO revealed yet another shocking figure: that every sixth kid in Bengal is a tobacco user.

Tobacco is the most important cause of preventable death amongst youth. Tobacco-related death is equivalent to deaths caused by TB, malaria, accidents, HIV, homicides and suicides put together

Unfortunately, tobacco is deeply ingrained in Bengal’s culture and the tobacco industry has shrewdly exploited this. Successive governments have nurtured a pro-tobacco administration. This is evident from the low tax levied by the state government on tobacco products. While Rajasthan has levied 65 per cent tax on all tobacco products, the Bengal government continues to patronise this killer industry by levying a mere 12.5 per cent tax. The thumb rule is — triple the taxes, double the revenue and halve the tobacco consumption.

The Bengal government is losing thousands of crores in the form of health care losses and earning a few hundred crores in the form of taxes. This does not include human losses in the form of millions of premature deaths.

In August 2011, the government of India had issued a notification that prohibited manufacture, storage and sale of gutkha.

Subsequently, 25 states and five Union Territories banned gutkha by enforcing section 2.3.4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011. Despite pressure from NGOs, media and civil society, the Bengal government did not ban gutkha.

Apparently, the state’s finance department feared loss of revenue if gutkha was banned! Our representations to the administration yielded no results. I made at least three personal trips to Calcutta to meet several important policy makers. Finally, with the help of an NGO (Doctors for You) we filed a PIL (public interest litigation) in Calcutta High Court.

Bengal kept dragging its feet and delaying the matter in the court. The Bengal government issued a notification to ban gutkha two weeks ago, after the Supreme Court issued it a showcause notice.

In 2003, the government of India had enacted the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act to discourage tobacco use. Many states have enforced the act, resulting in a significant drop in tobacco consumption.

The Bengal government has completely ignored such laws. Smoking in public places continues, as also the sale of tobacco near educational institutions and to minors. The point-of-sale norms (like displaying pictures of oral cancer at stores and announcing the ban on sale to minors) are violated all over!

Police are least motivated to enforce the tobacco bar, municipal officers are ignorant, policy makers lack sensitivity and education officers give a damn. Innocent people continue to die miserably!

Mamatadi, you are the only hope for millions of widows and orphans produced by the tobacco industry.

Only you, the health minister of the state apart from being the chief minister, can stop this tsunami of suffering that is endangering the health of your state, especially the youth. A society cannot be called civilised if it cannot protect its young.

. I don't understand why people are making such a noise of Mamata wanting smokers to increase their daily quota of smokes to help all those who were affected by the Sarada group.

Her next action is to impose Entertainment tax on people visiting the Red Light areas of Bengal.

She will also be requesting the youth of Bengal to increase their visits to these areas so that she has more funds to help the poor people affected by their own greed for high rate of returns.