Click to play videoNew Delhi: MPs have come up with an unique idea in the fight against tobacco. They want that the person buying a cigarette packet should get a free cancer check-up coupon, each time you buy.
The proposal is the idea Parliament Committee on Health and Family Welfare member Maneka Gandhi, who is recommending that tobacco companies start giving vouchers for free cancer check ups inside every cigarette pack.
"What I have recommended is coupons with every cigarette packet entitling you to a free cancer check-up. Also tobacco companies should set up cancer hospitals," says Maneka Gandhi.
It's a suggestion that will make tobacco companies see red but one that has found favour with the Health Ministry, which believes a coupon inside a cigarette packet will drive the message home.
"It would be wonderful if we could operationalise it. Nothing can be more powerful and hard-hitting than finding a voucher for a free cancer check-up every time you open a cigarette packet," says Health Secretary Sujatha Rao.
In a country where 9 lakh deaths occur every year due to smoking and cancer one of the most common causes of death among tobacco users but not everyone is convinced.
Many believe that smokers, who haven't really been moved by pictorial warnings, may find the cancer coupons even more subtle
"The better thing would be to start suing the tobacco companies for compensation as cancer treatments costs lakhs of rupees," says Hriday & Shan Legal Officer Priyanka Dahiya.
If this suggestion doesn't get run down by the tobacco barons, then it is likely to prove as a strong deterrent. But if someone's future is going to go up in smoke anyway, he or she can expect rich tobacco companies to cough up some money for the treatment.
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