One Smokes Affects 10 People Around Him: Health Expert

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Nov, 2022 ) :Postgraduate Medical Institute Principal Professor Dr. Muhammad Al-Fareed Zafar has said smoking should be discouraged at all levels as it is a major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and one smokes directly affects 10 people around him.

He was addressing participants in an awareness walk, organised by the Pulmonology Department of Lahore General Hospital (LGH). He said the COPD was a disease of respiratory system, which included inflammation of the respiratory tract, edema, lung disorders, breathing difficulties and infections and lack of energy while smokers were not aware of the dangers of the disease. Therefore, he added, every year three million people around the world die of the disease. He said the reason for spread of the disease was environmental and air pollution, which affected the respiratory system of workers in factories, traffic smoke and particles of products produced inside the factory.

He said that in order to prevent the disease, apart from the government institutions, people also had to fulfill their responsibilities and take preventive measures to eradicate the causes of disease. A person, affected by the COPD, could suffer from health complications like heart diseases, lung cancer and asthma, etc.

Later on, he told the media representatives that industrial development, establishment of unplanned residential areas/ colonies, rush of vehicles on roads and lack of proper monitoring of fitness of these vehicles by the relevant departments were some of the causes of the disease. He said vehicles emitting excessive smoke were affecting health of people badly.

Earlier, Head of Department Pulmonology Dr Javed Magsi, Dr Irfan Malik and Dr Khalid bin Aslam provided detailed information about prevention of the disease.