Pics: Meryick D'Silva
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)
With Inputs from Media Release

Mangaluru, Jun 1: Volunteer Services Organization (Manipal University), Mangaluru in association with Indian Medical Students Association and KMC Hospitals, Mangaluru conducted a 'Pan India Anti-Tobacco Campaign' on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day here at City Centre Mall on May 31.

The theme of the event was 'De-addiction and ways to quit smoking'. Most of the general public now a days, are quite aware of the harmful effects of smoking due to the awareness created by the Internet, media, government etc. But knowledge on de-addiction and steps to quit smoking are not well known. Hence to promote this, various events like flash mob, street plays were organized by the students of Kasturba Medical College, Mangaluru and Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Mangaluru to create awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco. The dance and the social message conveyed was greatly appreciated by the public.

This was followed by a talk on tobacco de-addiction by Syam K Ravindran, clinical psychologist, KMC Hospitals, Mangaluru and Dr Vaman Kulkarni, department of community medicine, KMC Mangaluru. These talks were quite informative and gave the public a lot of knowledge on how to quit smoking.

Several games for adults and children were also conducted by the organizers to involve the public and make them aware of this day. Lastly a quiz was conducted to test the general public about their knowledge and correct answers were awarded with goodies.

The organizers thanked the management of City Centre Mall for providing them with the venue and other facilities for this social cause.

The event was a huge success and the organizers made sure the public went home with awareness on harmful effects of tobacco as well as ways to quit smoking.