In a first, No-Smoking pledge ceremony held in health, edu institutions across Kashmir
Aim is to keep young generation away from smoking: Officials
Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Jun 22 (KNO): A No-Smoking pledge ceremony was held across all health institutions and educational institutions of Kashmir to sensitize students and others on the ill effects of tobacco consumption and smoking.
The Directorate of Health Services Kashmir and the Directorate of School Education Department had already issued separate circulars in this regard.
An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that all the Chief Medical Officers, Medical Superintendents and Block Medical Officers carried out a No-Smoking pledge ceremony in all the health intuitions. He said that on the direction of DSEK, the ceremonies were also held in the educational institutions of Kashmir.
The officials said the aim of conducting No-Smoking pledges is to keep the younger generation away from tobacco and smoking.
The spokesperson of the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir Dr Mir Mushtaq, who is also the Nodal Officer of NTCP Kashmir, told KNO that for the first time, such kind of exercise was done in the whole of Kashmir as DHSK and DSEK jointly took the pledge.
This was done in view of the ongoing ‘tobacco-free youth campaign’ launched by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, he said.
Recently, on the eve of No Tobacco Day, the campaign was launched by Secretary Health J&K Bhupinder Kumar who directed all the concerned officials to actively participate in the campaign.
Dr Mushtaq said that DHSK and DSEK have conducted a series of meetings on the issue and held joint pledge ceremonies in order to implement Tobacco Free Educational Institutions (TOFEI).
The aim is to make all educational institutions tobacco-free and to raise awareness about the ill effects of tobacco so that the future generation won’t get attracted to the menace.
“Such kind of pledge ceremony was held for the first time in the history of Kashmir and it was successful as all educational and health institutions actively participated in it,” he said—(KNO)
