KMCH observes ‘World No Tobacco Day’

The awareness programme aimed to draw public attention to spread message of harmful effects of tobacco use as well as its passive effects to others

Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH), a multi-speciality hospital in Coimbatore recently launched a ‘Let’s say No to Tobacco -signature campaign’ to observe ‘World No Tobacco Day.’ The awareness programme aimed to draw public attention to spread the message of harmful effects of tobacco use as well as its passive effects to others.

‘World No Tobacco Day’ is an UN initiative to bring in awareness and encourage people across the globe to reduce or completely stop the tobacco consumption in any form.

Understanding the importance, KMCH launched a ‘Let’s say No to Tobacco signature campaign,’ which aimed to draw public attention to spread the message of harmful effects of tobacco use as well as its passive effects to others.

KMCH for the first time organised this unique signature campaign in four different locations in the city on the same day. They were Coimbatore international airport, Coimbatore railway junction, Ghandhipuram bus station and Comprehensive Cancer Center, KMCH.

The signature campaign was held at 7 am, 8 am, 10 am and 12 noon respectively. The chief guest was Archana Patanik, District Collector, Lakshmi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law & Order), Dr Somasundaram, Deputy Director Health Services, Chinnaraju, Station Master (Coimbatore Railway station), Dr V Kumaran, Dean – KMCH and Dr AN Murugan, Medical Director, KMCH. Dr Nalla G Palaniswami, Chairman, KMCH, Dr Arun N Palaniswami, Director, KMCH also took part in the event.

This multi-location based signature campaign was an absolute success in terms of reach. A large number of doctors from KMCH, Government Medical College, airport staff, railway staff, other senior police officials also participated in the campaign. Close to 10,000 people pledged their signature against the use of tobacco in any form. As part of the campaign, the KMCH marketing team distributed 25,000 tobacco awareness pamphlets across Coimbatore city.

Dr Palaniswami mentioned that these kind of repeated awareness campaign can play a significant role in eliminating the use of tobacco and thanked the officials for their active participation.