Srinagar, July 12: In a significant move, the National Medical Commission (NMC), Policy and Coordination Division, Government of India on Friday issued directives for establishment of Tobacco Cessation Centres in medical colleges in the country.
“In line with its commitment to promote public health and combating the adverse effects of tobacco use, the Government has decided to establish Tobacco Cessation Centres in medical colleges across the country,” said a circular issued by the NMC.
The GoI initiative aims to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure by integrating specialized services for tobacco cessation into the educational and healthcare framework.
The circular undersigned by Dr. (Prof.) B Srinivas, Secretary, NMC said all the hospitals attached to each of the medical colleges are directed to make provisions for “Tobacco Cessation Centre”.
“This can be a special clinic run by the Department of Psychiatry and/or other departments. These Centres should also be established in rural and urban health centres that the college has adopted for training. These Centres along with tobacco cessation, will also work as “Drug De-addiction Centres”,” the circular said.
Tobacco use is a leading global cause of death, accounting for more than 8 million deaths annually. A GoI report notes in India alone, tobacco is responsible for nearly 1.35 million deaths every year.
“India ranks as the second-largest consumer and producer of tobacco (2). Tobacco affects nearly every part of body leading to detrimental consequences, including various diseases and deaths affecting users, their families, and society as a whole,” it said.
The Union Health Ministry has also issued operational guidelines for the Tobacco Cessation Centres and explained how these will function and cater to the needs of the patients.
“A TCC is defined as fixed premises where qualified health care professionals/counsellors provide tobacco cessation therapy to help patients to quit the habit. The therapy can involve individual or group counselling and may include the dispensing of pharmacological aids, if the centre is registered and equipped to do so,” the guidelines said.
It said all patients attending Medical Institutions and affiliated hospitals should ideally have access to tobacco cessation services in the premises of the medical institution.
“The TCCs shall offer various tobacco cessation services including behavioural intervention, pharmacotherapy and relapse prevention strategies,” it said.
These would offer tobacco cessation services for patients suffering from various tobacco-related medical conditions or with other conditions like TB, diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, etc.
As per the ministry’s guidelines the facility would offer tobacco cessation services to patient attenders/ any accompanying person who could be using tobacco.
“Provide tobacco cessation services for vulnerable groups visiting hospitals like pregnant women, children and adolescents by integrating the Tobacco Cessation centre with prenatal care, paediatric care and adolescent care,” the guidelines said.
It will also provide support through self-help information, telephonic reminders, social networking among users and e-mails for session reminders etc. It would also integrate tobacco cessation services with allied health services like AYUSH etc.
The TCC’s once established would provide organized medical treatment and rehabilitation for all the patients enrolled in cessation clinics besides organize and provide necessary referral to the affiliated medical facility for support.
These will have a robust data management mechanism to monitor effectiveness of TCC services, patient progress and identify effective strategies to help others quit- data collection, data compilation, data reporting and data analysis.
“Strive for compliance with guidelines for tobacco-free educational institutions already outlined and to declare and maintain the medical institution as tobacco-free,” it said.
Not only that, the centres will be tasked to conduct community outreach, screen for lifestyle diseases including tobacco use, cancer screening, awareness and mobilisation of tobacco cessation activities.
Besides that the TCCs would identify clusters like schools, institutions or health centres, and organize community awareness activities.
Under the initiative undergraduate and postgraduate medical students, health workers and healthcare professionals would be trained in conducting community tobacco cessation activities.
The Union Health Ministry guidelines said the centre would collaborate with State Tobacco Control Cell (STCC), utilize Mobile Medical Units to decentralize the tobacco cessation activities in the community settings.
