Cancer, bronchitis

Once considered rare diseases, Lung Cancer and Chronic Bronchitis have increased manifold in Kashmir with doctors attributing the growing number of patients to cigarette and hookah smoking.
Dr Showkat Zargar the head department of Gastroenterology at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura said, “We receive 200 to 300 patients suffering from Lung Cancer every year.
Dr Zargar told Greater Kashmir that Lung Cancer has become the third common cancer in the Valley after caners of food pipe and stomach. Dr Zargar was speaking at a seminar “Hazards of Smoking” organised by the NSS wing of Government Women College M A Road here Thursday to observe “World No Tobacco Day.”
“The cases of Lung Cancer have shown a steep increase as the number of cigarette and hookah smokers have increased tremendously,” the senior doctor said. The disease, Dr Showkat said was very rare in 1980s. “Twenty years back the doctors rarely would come across any patient suffering from Lung Cancer, but the disease is now predominantly seen in males smoking cigarettes,” Dr Showkat said.
Dr Zargar said the cases of Chronic Bronchitis have also increased. “Thousands of patients suffering from chronic bronchitis also known as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) visit SKIMS during the winter to receive treatment as they suffer from recurrent cough and difficulty in breathing,” Dr Showkat said.
The chronic bronchitis is a disease fully related with smoking. “Many women smoking hookah also suffer from COPD. They are administered oxygen as they suffer from breathlessness,” he said.
Smoking cigarettes also causes other type of cancers including throat, colon, rectum, prostrate, urinary bladder and pancreas. “About 25 per cent of the deaths related to heart diseases are caused by smoking cigarettes,” Dr Showkat said. According to the gastroenterologist, about 4.8 million deaths were recorded due to smoking of which 75 per cent were men and the rest women. “If the trend continues, the number of deaths due to smoking related illness will double in 2010,” he said. While quoting a survey conducted worldwide, the gastroenterologist said the number of women smoking cigarettes has shown increase in year 2006.
The gastroenterologist cautioned passive smokers saying the people especially women sitting beside a smoker are at a higher risk of suffering from cancer.
Dr Zargar said the ban on cigarette smoking in public places has not been enforced. “The government has passed the legislation banning cigarette smoking in public places, but the smokers are seen puffing cigarettes in hospitals, buses, meeting rooms and offices and have turned them into smoke houses,” he said.
source:www.greaterkashmir.com