WHO awards Bihar doctor for 'fight against tobacco'

Patna, July 4 (UNI) Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at SK Medical College Dhirendra Narayan Sinha alongwith three others have been conferred with the World No Tobacco Day Award by the World Health Organisation.

An eminent advocate of global tobacco control and researcher, Dr Sinha has collected information on various forms of tobacco used in the region - particularly on smokeless tobacco use and bidi consumption, a WHO release said.

Lauding the findings of Dr Sinha, WHO said the sincere efforts of Dr Sinha has forced manufacturers of dentifrice used in India to remove tobacco from its products.

All the four recipients of the award belong to South East Asian Region(SEAR), informed Dr Sinha, adding that of the 4.9 million deaths from tobacco, countries in the SEAR account for 1.2 million deaths. ''This region suffers from double burden of the tobacco epidemic as it is both a large producer and consumer of tobacco,'' he said.

According to Dr Sinha, because of low level of awareness about its ill effects, weak infrastructure of tobacco control and the wide variety of products available in the region, the regulation of its products has become increasingly difficult in the region.

He said like other consumer goods, it was vital for the tobacco products to develop comprehensive regulation covering product ingredients and emissions, their likely harmful impacts, details of manufacture, communications and marketing.

Meanwhile, Bihar Health Minister Chandramohan Rai commended the efforts of Dr Sinha, saying, ''it is his sincerity and dedication for social cause that brought fame for him and the state as well.'' He said the department might give promotion and other facilities to such doctors, who have contributed for the cause of the society.

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