With a view to address the problems arising out of the use and abuse of tobacco in India, PGIMER-Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Chronic Care Foundation and Pfizer jointly organised a consensus conference on tobacco cessation, treatment and care. It was held in New Delhi with an aim to arrive at a consensus on how to control tobacco addiction in India and provide smokers with a holistic approach to smoking cessation.

In this first of its kind effort to bring key stakeholders on to a common platform, the conference highlighted the key message of encouraging smokers to approach public/private smoking cessation clinics. This year, on World No Tobacco Day, the partners aim to showcase the new pilot tobacco cessation clinics that have been launched through this initiative in the NCR region. The project will be rolled out in other parts of the country with the support of additional partners including PSUs, WHO and MoH.

The program is being rolled out through a series of workshops and training activities in partnership with multiple stakeholders. The main goal is to get the media to lead a new campaign to introduce innovative approaches to quit smoking and showcase successful tobacco cessation clinics; NGOs to take on an active role to conduct referrals and provide basic counselling to address the psycho-social aspects of smoking and doctors to start tobacco control clinics in their individual/hospital practices.

Dr Jagdish Kaur, chief medical officer, director general of Medical Services, Ministry of Health, Government of India said, "This workshop has showcased successful tobacco control initiatives from across the country. We need to scale up these pioneering efforts through establishing public-private partnerships to take the war on tobacco to the next level."

Dr Dhirendra Sinha, Technical Officer, Tobacco Free Initiative, WHO SEARO, New Delhi, said, "We need to develop holistic approaches to help tobacco users combat their addiction. These require scientifically proven clinical interventions with an emphasis on community services."

The panel included various distinguished names such as Dr Smita Deshpande, PGIMER Dr RML Hospital, New Delhi, Dr R P Vashist, State Tobacco Control Cell, Government of Delhi and Dr Ratna Devi, Chronic Care Foundation, New Delhi, Dr N Desai, IHBAS, Delhi and Dr S Budhiraja, Max Super Specialty Clinic, Delhi, Dr R Guleria, AIIMS. The conference was attended by about 100 delegates comprising leading NGOs, chest physicians, psychiatrists and media professionals.