As everyone is aware, tobacco use is the world’s greatest preventable cause of mortality and a major contributing factor to heart attacks, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Tobacco includes nicotine, which is addicting, making the quitting process more difficult and time-consuming.

To combat the tobacco pandemic and promote nicotine cessation, Ruby Cancer Centre, a division of Ruby General Hospital in Kolkata, arranged a walk on World No Tobacco Day. The Ruby Cancer Care and Research Foundation was present at the event and gave information on how to lessen the impact that head and neck cancer has on people, families, and communities. You can vow to do this and take other action.

There were more than 250 participants in the rally along with cancer survivors.

These individuals were felicitated by celebrities of other fields and eminent personalities.

A few cancer survivors were selected as crusaders, and it will be their duty to actively participate in tobacco cessation education and awareness-raising. In addition to providing information, pamphlets, and brochures, Ruby Hospital will assist these activists by planning awareness campaigns in their local communities. An announcement on Ruby General Hospital’s Free Tobacco Cessation Counselling program was issued. This program offers individuals the opportunity to give up tobacco use and adopt a healthier lifestyle. In the same way that the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (COTPA) has done for schools and colleges, the Ruby Cancer Care and Research Foundation will also write to federal and state authorities requesting that they cease selling and consuming any tobacco products within 100 yards of any government or private hospitals.

The walk was attended by approximately twenty cancer survivors and their families, including those from Bhutan and other foreign countries, as well as nurses, hospital employees, Ruby Nursing School and College students, and prominent oncologists. Numerous well-known individuals had also joined, including singer Saikat Mitra, actors Phalguni Chatterjee, Subhasish Mukherjee, Arindam Sil, Sudeshna Roy, and Anindya Banerjee, as well as notable athletes Dola Banerjee, Anit Ghosh, and Pritam Kotal. Many individuals from various backgrounds have also taken part in raising awareness among individuals.

Priyanka Dutta