News Analysis India

Tag: Smoking

  • No evidence to prove lung cancer caused by smoking addiction: Gujarat consumer court

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: A consumer court here has ordered an insurance company to reimburse the amount of expenditure on medical treatment for lung cancer after the insurer refused to pay the claim saying the patient was addicted to smoking, which caused the disease.

    The court said there was no evidence to prove that the patient suffered from lung cancer due to his addiction to smoking, apart from the mention of “addiction smoking” on the treatment papers, which, it said, cannot form the basis for the insurer to reject his claim. It also said that people who do not smoke also suffer from lung cancer.

    The insurance company had rejected the claim of Rs 93,297 incurred by policy holder Alok Kumar Banerjee on treatment of his “adenocarcinoma of lung” or lung cancer, at a private hospital, on the ground that he was addicted to smoking as mentioned on his treatment papers.

    Banerjee’s wife, Smita, challenged this in the Ahmedabad Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission together with Consumer Education and Research Centre.

    On September 30, the consumer court allowed her petition and observed that there is no evidence to prove that her husband was addicted to smoking, apart from the mention of “addiction smoking” on the treatment papers.

    Neither was any clarification of evidence sought from the doctor who made the same observation. Observations made in discharge summary or treatment papers alone cannot be counted as conclusive proof.

    Independent proof is required to be presented to support the claim, it said. “The complainant’s husband had lung cancer, but there is no proof to ascertain that it was due to his addiction to smoking. The insurer has presented a report from a doctor that says that smokers are 25 times more likely to get lung cancer, but that alone does not prove that he suffered from lung cancer due to smoking,” said the order passed by commission’s president K S Patel and member K P Mehta.

    “People who do not smoke also suffer from lung cancer, and all those who smoke do not necessarily suffer from lung cancer. Therefore, the Commission is of the opinion that the insurance company falsely rejected the claim without providing any conclusive proof in its support,” it said.

    The court ordered the insurance company to pay Rs 93,297 as claim with 7 per cent interest from the date of application on August 2, 2016. Further, the insurer will pay Rs 3,000 for mental torture and Rs 2,000 towards cost of litigation within 30 days, it said.

    The policy was valid between May 2014 and 2015, and the complainant’s husband was treated on July 29, 2014 and incurred a cost of Rs 93,297 over treatment which he claimed form the insurer. The insurer rejected the claim and said in its repudiation letter that the complainant is not qualified for the claim as per the policy terms and conditions, as he was addicted to smoking.

    This is based on the hospital papers which mentions “addiction smoking,” it said. The complainant was a chain smoker and was suffering from lung cancer and had sought treatment in different hospitals. He got cancer due to his smoking habit, as smoking and lung cancer are directly related, the insurance company said in its reply to the court.

  • Smokers face 40-50 per cent higher risk of severe diseases, death from Covid: Harsh Vardhan

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Smokers face a 40-50 per cent higher risk of severe diseases and death from COVID-19, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday highlighting that over 1.3 million fatalities are attributable to tobacco use every year in India, which is an avoidable socio-economic burden impacting the country’s development.

    These remarks were made by Vardhan as he chaired an event to mark the World No Tobacco Day and led the pledge by everyone present to abstain from tobacco, a health ministry statement said.

    With the persistent efforts of the central and state governments, the prevalence of tobacco use has decreased from 34.6 per cent in 2009-10 to 28.6 per cent in 2016-17, he said.

    “In India, over 1.3 million deaths are attributable to tobacco use every year amounting to 3,500 deaths per day, imposing a lot of avoidable socio-economic burden.

    In addition to the deaths and diseases it causes, tobacco also impacts the economic development of the country,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.

    He also pointed out that smokers face a 40-50 per cent higher risk of developing severe diseases and deaths from COVID-19, according to the statement.

    According to the WHO study titled “Economic Costs of Diseases and Deaths Attributable to Tobacco Use in India”, it has been estimated that the economic burden of diseases and deaths attributable to tobacco use of tobacco in India was as high as Rs.1.77 lakh crores, amounting to approximately 1 per cent of GDP.

    Vardhan underlined the country’s long history of incrementally decreasing tobacco consuming population through legal and administrative means.

    “Tobacco control legislation in India dates back to ‘Cigarettes Act, 1975’ which mandates display of statutory health warnings in advertisement and on cartons and cigarette packages,” he stated.

    Recollecting his long fight against tobacco at every step of his career, Vardhan said, “As Delhi Health Minister, I got an opportunity to conceive the ‘Delhi Prohibition of Smoking and Non Smokers Health Protection Act’ and have it passed in the Delhi assembly in 1997.

    This very statute became the model for the central legislation banning smoking in public places in 2002, on the directions of the Supreme Court.”

    “This was followed by comprehensive tobacco control legislation in 2003 [Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade, Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, COTPA, 2003] which aims to provide smoke-free public places and also places restrictions on tobacco advertisement and promotion,” he said.

    Speaking on the staunch political commitment of the government in curbing tobacco use, he said, “When I joined as Union Health Minister, I decided to combat the menace of e-cigarettes and conceived the ‘Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Bill, 2019’ which prohibits production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertisement of e-cigarettes.”

    “The exemplary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi convinced different stakeholders and allowed for the smooth passage of the Bill by parliament in 2019.

    Sustained government efforts have contributed to saving the country from the menace of e-cigarettes which could have disproportionately affected the teenage population,” he said.

    Vardhan also highlighted the proliferation of calls to tobacco quitline services.

    “We have toll free quitline services 1800-112-356 initiated in 2016, that were expanded in September 2018.

    The services are now available in 16 languages and other local dialects from 4 centres. The number of calls on the quit line was 20,500 per month which increased to 2.

    50 lakh per month after the expansion,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.

    He reiterated his appeal to the people to quit use of tobacco and tobacco products.

    The Union health minister spoke on the ambitious goals of The National Health Policy 2017 with respect to tobacco control.

    “We have set an ambitious target of reducing tobacco use by 30 per cent by 2025.

    Our tobacco control targets have been devised keeping in view the targets for control of non-communicable diseases and are consistent with the targets set under the SDGs.

    We will be soon releasing the findings of fourth round of Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted among 13-15 year school going students,” he said.

    He also thanked all other partner organisations, ministry officials, ground workers and notably, the WHO for the gains made in curbing tobacco use so far.

    Vardhan thanked WHO Director General for recognising his services and that of the health ministry work on tobacco control in 2021 for conferring Director General’s Special Recognition Award in 2021, the statement said.

    Every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognises individuals or organisations in each of the six WHO regions for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control.