Government of India in 2009 started a programme name ‘Tobacco free India’ with the motive to make the country free from the grip of tobacco and its related products by 2020. Though the programme on one hand, its implications are hard to be found on the ground. Nevertheless the gloom, there is some silver lining and that also with the effort of an individual driven by his social responsibility as a doctor.
Dr Sushil, a dentist by profession, came cross the growing problem while examining his patients. His profession took a passionate change that has till date pulled as many as 19 tobacco users of the city out of slow death they were heading for.
Sangeeta Singh whose husband was a chain-smoker narrates her tale on how her partner quit smoking. “My husband Rajeev Singh is an lIC agent and his monthly income is around Rs 10,000. Earlier almost half of his salary was spent on cigarette. It was becoming difficult for me to manage my family which resulted in strained relationship with my husband as well.”
“One day I told my husband that no member of our family will eat unless you quit smoking completely. For three days, my family remained without a single grain. One of my neighbours told us about Dr Sushil. With his help from last two years my husband my husband decided to quit smoking,” she added.
According to Rajeev Singh, life becomes more meaningful after quitting tobacco. He said, “Once upon a time I was considered a discerning smoker. I was fighting hard to kick out my addiction but always use to find an excuse for having it. When I met with Dr Sushil regarding this matter and he guaranteed me that within two months I will quit smoking. He counselled me for two to three hours and that proved to be turning point of my life.”
Realising alarming number of patients suffering from oral cancer triggered by chewing tobacco encouraged Dr Sushil and he decided to make people aware about its ill-effects and help them to give up the bad habit. Dr Sushil said, “I had taken training on how to make people free from the clutches of tobacco in Banglore’s Nimance hospital. I want to make Jharkhand free from the hold of tobacco. In collaboration with Coral (a NGO at Bariatu) I opened a Tobacco Intervention Initiative Centre in October, 2010.”
Dr Sushil while working on the patients first goes through their entire history. His first session of treatment starts with counseling any patient for two to three hours in which he keeps an eye on him to check out the output. “After 15 days we provide them Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRTs) which is designed to help people stop smoking. In this therapy we calculate the amount of tobacco and its related product consumed by the patient in one day and accordingly we give them the dozes of nicotine, as it helps them to overcome from initial restlessness. later on we teach them to quit nicotine consumption too. In the last phase of our treatment the patient is provided a nutritional diet chart to make his life healthy.”