Dr. Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI), Guwahati has bagged the Regional Director’s Special Recognition Award by the World Health Organization (WHO) of South East Asia region for its effort towards tobacco control on the World No Tobacco Day 2021. This recognition has also been awarded to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, the National Committee on Tobacco Control of Indonesia, Paolophaholyothin Hospital in Thailand, the National Heart Institute in New Delhi, and the National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute at Dhaka, Bangladesh. The total population of South East Asia is around 200 crore and WHO has a separate office for this region.

According to Dr Amal Chandra Kataki, Director of BBCI, the institute has been at the forefront of tobacco control in North East India for the last 18 years. The BBCI has conducted more than 1500 awareness camps on harms due to tobacco consumption among the general public across North East India. The institute runs the Regional Tobacco Quitline Services (RTQS) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India from 2018. The BBCI is one of the four centers in India for tobacco quitline services. Furthermore, BBCI has collaborated with tobacco control organizations and local administration to advocate for tobacco control in schools and educational institutes of the state as part of tobacco-free educational institute (TFEI) initiative. This recognition by the WHO has catapulted the institute’s reputation as one of the leading stakeholders in the global tobacco control efforts. We take this opportunity to thank all government and non-government organizations involved in tobacco control in the region, further stated Dr Kataki.   

Dr Srabana Misra Bhagabaty, Principal Investigator of RTQS stated that more than 7 lakh 50 thousand in-voice calls were received at the quitline services, and over 5 lakh counseling for tobacco cessation was provided to callers from the entire North East India, Odisha, and West Bengal. Because of the counseling provided at the tobacco quitline center, thousands of active tobacco users have given up tobacco consumption, which led to better health among a large number of people, informed Dr. Bhagabaty.