Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

SCTIMST plans quit-tobacco clinic

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 30. The Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology is planning to open a `quit-tobacco' clinic as part of its public health initiative.

The clinic will be part of the tobacco cessation research and training programme being undertaken by the SCTIMST's Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science

Studies. The centre is the Indian partner in an on-going five-year multi-country tobacco cessation project.

Research capacity

The project aims at building research capacity for tobacco cessation in India, developing culturally appropriate tobacco cessation programmes and also cooperating with other institutions and groups working in the field.

Five institutes of public health - Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia, Universities of Minnesotta, Arizona and Missouri-Kansas City in the U.S and the Achutha Menon Centre - are the research partners in the project being funded by the Fogarty International Centre, National Institute of Health in the U.S

Tobacco cessation

"Tobacco cessation has become important because the programmes to prevent or control the use of tobacco will not show results until 2040. Baseline data from Kerala shows that among high school students (13-17 years), 8.1 per cent smoke and 3.2 per cent use chewing tobacco," says K. R. Thankappan, head of the Achutha Menon Centre.

Though health professionals should be treating tobacco use as any other disease, they have little or no training on how they can help patients quit tobacco. At present, there is little information about tobacco and its many-sided effects on health in the curriculum in Medical Colleges, Dr. Thankappan says.

Among medical professionals also, tobacco use is quite high. Studies by the Achutha Menon Centre show that 13 per cent of male medical students are smokers. Among the male Medical College teachers in Thiruvananthapuram, 15 per cent are smokers, while among the male doctors in the Government service, 13 per cent smoke.

Educating public

The Achutha Menon Centre is now developing materials for educating general public, including doctors, medical students, diabetic and TB patients and Government health personnel.

A `How to quit tobacco' booklet, based on a culturally sensitive tobacco cessation approach, is being developed and tested for use in Kerala. Course modules for Medical Colleges and for tobacco cessation training programme are also being developed.

The idea is to introduce information on the harmful impact of tobacco in each medical speciality.

Plans are also on the anvil to pilot test tobacco cessation interventions at diabetic and TB clinics and at primary health centres (PHCs). At a later stage, outreach training in tobacco cessation will be done for the health personnel in the Government sector and in the PHCs.

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