By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: At least 1,000 people try to quit smoking in Qatar every year by attending Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Smoking Cessation Clinic, according to a senior official.
The clinic receives both men and women and the youngest person so far tried to quit smoking was 12-year-old, Dr Ahmad al Mulla, Head of HMC’s Smoking Cessation Clinic, told this newspaper.
However, people seeking support and treatment at the clinic are between the age of 25 and 40 years. The clinic has also received people as old as 70 years. Between three to five percent of people try to quit smoking are women.
The Smoking Cessation Clinic helps smokers to quit with a combined programme including pharmacotherapy with advice and behavioural support.
“We combine health education with medical treatment and counseling so that patients visit the health educator and learn about adverse health impacts of smoking first, then they visit the doctor who helps them stop smoking through medication,” said Dr Mulla.
Smokers who receive assistance at the clinic undergo a three months programme, however some quit smoking before the treatment ends. Majority of smokers try to quit their habit face challenges as peer pressure, nicotine dependence, resistance to lifestyle change, stress and weight gain, says Dr Mulla.
The Smoking Cessation Clinic suggests only clinical and behavioural support and Qatar does not allow electronic cigarette which simulates tobacco by producing an aerosol that resembles smoke.
“Electronic cigarettes are not allowed in Qatar because it’s not approved yet as safe by the Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization,” said Dr Mulla. According to a survey in 2013 there are about 51,000 cigarette smokers and 14,000 shisha (Waterpipe)smokers in Qatar.
The 2013 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) was carried out by the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) in collaboration with the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics also found that some smoke up to 17 cigarettes a day. 51,000 smokers in Qatar aged 15 years and above who constitute 12.1 percent of the adult population.
According to a 2013 World Health Organization study, some 10 percent of Qatar’s adult population are smokers.
In this backdrop HMC will host the second International conference on Waterpipe smoking research: A Collision of Two Epidemics of Waterpipe and Cigarettes in October. The conference will examine the scientific evidence on the health (biological, physiological) social, economic, and public policy determinants of shisha and cigarette smoking.
The Peninsula
