The Department of Community Medicine at Government Medical College Srinagar hosted an elocution and poster competition on the theme “We need food, not tobacco” to commemorate World No-Tobacco Day on May 31. The event drew in medical professionals and students from other institutions across the city.
The top three finishers in the elocution competition were Saquib Jan, Zehra Latif, and Adeela Jan. Similarly, Ayman Bashir and Safa Naqash tied for first place in the poster contest, while Aqefa Shah placed second and Sunjeeda Tariq came in third.
Anatomy Department Head Professor Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, Microbiology Department Head Professor Nahid Nahvi, Pharmacology Department Head Professor Rehana Tabassum, and Community Medicine Department Head Professor Mohammad Iqbal Pandit served as judges.
Department of Community Medicine professors and residents at GMC Srinagar helped arrange and run the event, which was led by young resident Dr. Anjum Asma.
On this special occasion, the physicians and medical students of GMC Srinagar made a commitment to themselves and Dr. S. Muhammad Salim Khan, Professor and Head of the Department of Community Medicine, to never smoke again.
Interestingly, over Rs. 850 crores are spent each year on tobacco goods, mostly cigarettes, in J&K, which has a very high smoking prevalence compared to the rest of India.
