Kochi: Keralites spent a whopping `5.45bn on treatment of tobacco-related diseases during 2011, according to a new study.
The study on “The Economic Burden of Tobacco-related Diseases-2011” was conducted by the Public Health Foundation of India with support from the union ministry of health and family welfare and the WHO Country Office for India.
In Kerala, 21.4 percent adults (15 years and above) use tobacco while 42 percent adults are exposed to second-hand smoke at home.
Cardiovascular diseases shared the highest economic burden of `2.26bn on account of tobacco use, followed by respiratory diseases (`1.98bn), tuberculosis (`670m) and cancers (`550m).
Direct costs include the health care expenditures for in-patient hospitalisation or out-patient visits, including surgeon’s fees, medicines, diagnostic tests and other costs directly related to in-patient hospitalisation or out-patient visits.
Indirect costs comprise expenditures incurred for transportation, lodging charges for caregivers and also the loss of household income.
Top LeT guerrilla killed in Kashmir
Srinagar: A top foreign guerrilla of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit was Wednesday killed in a gunfight with security forces in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir in which a soldier was also injured, police said.
Acting on specific information about the presence of some militants at Shah Mohalla Hamla Pati (Zachaldara) village in Kupwara district, a joint team of the army’s 21 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group cordoned off the village, a senior police officer said. The militants hiding in the village opened fire at the security forces, who retaliated.
Abu Mosa, a divisional commander of the LeT outfit, was killed in the shootout, while a soldier was injured in the operation.
Abu Mosa was a Pakistani national who was active in Handwara, Rajwara and Ramhall belt since 2012, the police officer said.IANS
