Karachi: Renowned experts of the country Friday urged common people to adopt healthy lifestyle, refrain from smoking, alcohol, exercise daily and use balanced died to prevent themselves from heart ailments, strokes, diabetes, hypertension and mental illnesses.

The health experts, each of whom is considered master of his respective field of specialization in the medical profession, said remaining healthy was not as much difficult as it is considered by most of the people but in order to remain healthy, people should improve their awareness about health issues.
They tobacco usage in Pakistani society, lack of habit of regular exercise, poor dietary habits and sedentary lifestyle as leading causes of deaths or root-causes of illnesses that result in most of the deaths in Pakistani that could easily be prevented by changing habits.

These experts were speaking at a “Public Awareness Session” on the inaugural session of 22nd Biennial International Convention of Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) that kicked off here Friday at Expo Center Karachi.

Over 5000 doctors from all over the country as well as over 174 medical professionals, researchers and experts from around the globe are attending the three-day convention where not only doctors but ordinary people have been invited for their awareness.

The most interesting presentation was of the Prof. Javed A Khan, renowned chest specialist of the country, who said by imposing a complete ban or making cigarettes unaffordable for common people in Pakistan could prevent 40 percent cancer cases and a 25 percent decrease in heart ailments instantly.
“Cigarettes kill more people in Pakistan as compared to all suicide bombings, traffic accidents and crime related killings in a given year” Prof. Khan claimed, adding that around one hundred thousand people die every year in Pakistan due to smoking-related complications.

He deplored that cigarettes were the cheapest commodity in Pakistan as compared to rest of the world as even in Afghanistan, cigarettes cost more than Pakistan, and demanded government to levy heavy taxes on cigarettes to make it unaffordable for Pakistanis.

“All those who smoke are worst than animals as even animals try to prevent themselves from smoke as they know the hazards of smoking” he remarked and criticized the media for not highlighting the deaths due to smoking.

“Pir Pagara, John Aliya are some of the people who died due to smoking but media don’t describe cigarettes as their cause of dath while Mehdi Hassan is in critical condition due to continuous smoking” he claimed.

Similarly, eating tobacco is the worst habit found in majority of Pakistanis and by banning products containing tobacco, betel nuts, oral cancer can be prevented upto 90 percent, he added.

On the occasion, he said PIMA should demand or endorse the demand for a complete ban on smoking that was supported all participants of the international convention.

Another renowned health expert, Cardiologist Prof. Ejaz Vohra said prevention from cardiac ailments does not require knowing rocket science as very simple and easy steps could prevent thousands of people from getting cardiac or heart patients.

“Avoiding smoking, alcohol, doing regular exercise, eating healthy, balanced diet with fresh fruits and vegetables and avoiding use of salt and fat containing food is the key to remain healthy and avoiding heart diseases” he informed.

Prof. Ghaffar A Billo, known pediatrician and child specialist said of all the children who die every year around the globe due to preventable diseases, half are died in Pakistan, mainly due to Diarrhea and Pneumonia, both easy preventable diseases among children.

“Giving mother’s feed to a child at least for initial six months prevent the child both from Diarrhea and Pneumonia as Mother’s feed is the first and most effective vaccine for a child” he informed.

At the same time, Pakistan is the only country where 50 percent children are facing malnutrition or lack of adequate food, he informed adding that this figure was upto 60 percent in Sindh province.

Similarly, 20 percent of the children are obese or over weight, another dangerous health condition for children, he informed.
He urged mothers not to give bottle feed to children as of one million children die every year due to bottle feed in the world, half are died only in Pakistan due to this unhealthy practice.

Renowned Dialectician Prof. S.M Rab informed that around 12 percent of Pakistani population is suffering from diabetes but unfortunately, majority of them don’t know about their being diabetic and when they go for the treatment of some other disease, they learn about it.

“Diabetes is the mother of all illnesses as it leads to heart attacks, stroke, coma, amputation of limbs, renal failure and many other serious health conditions” he informed and advised people to adopt healthy lifestyle and balanced diet in addition to hard work and exercise to prevent themselves from becoming diabetics.
Renowned Neurologist Prof. Iqbal Afridi informed that majority of people in Pakistan who are facing mental disorders are not aware of their disease due to lack of awareness and called for creating awareness about mental health conditions among common people as well as medical professionals.

He said a psychiatric patient not only suffers himself due to his mental condition but his family, relatives and friends also face agony due to his or her illness.
Another expert, Gastroenterologist Prof. Huma Qureshi spoke about the Hepatitis saying every 9th or 10th Pakistani is suffering from this preventable disease but majority does not know about its causes and how to prevent themselves from it.

She urged people to drink clean, boiled water, use sterilized syringes and equipment for their treatment and vaccinate themselves against Hepatitis to remain healthy.

The Convention would continue on Saturday and Sunday where several scientific sessions would be held separately at Expo Center Karachi.
Several known laboratories and pharmaceutical industries had also set up their stalls at the convention center where people were being provided the facility of free tests of blood, diabetes, cholesterol, bone density.