Chandigarh: PGIMER picked by Centre to strengthen tobacco testing in Indian subcontinent

This project was sanctioned to PGIMER by ministry of health and family welfare (MOHFW), Government of India (GOI)

Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, hosted a virtual meeting to augment the strengthening of National Tobacco Testing Laboratories in the Indian subcontinent.

Hekali Zhimomi, additional secretary, department of health and family welfare, MOHFW was the chief guest. (HT Photo)

This project was sanctioned to PGIMER by ministry of health and family welfare (MOHFW), Government of India (GOI).

Chief guest Hekali Zhimomi, additional secretary, department of health and family welfare, MOHFW, while highlighting the annual deaths caused by tobacco, commended PGIMER for leading MOHFW established scientific support group in the country to support Article 9 and 10 of World Health Organisation Framework Convention of tobacco control to which India is one of the signatories along with 186 countries.

Guest of honour Dr Leimapokpam Swasticharan, additional deputy director general of health Services, MOHFW, stressed the importance of comprehensible information on how to test tobacco products, what products to test, and how to use testing data meaningfully to support regulation.

“The initiative in the Southeast Asian region is dedicated to enhancing the analytical and research capacities of the existing three National Tobacco Testing Laboratories (NTTLs) along with building the capacity of the potential laboratory in the country,” said Dr Sonu Goel, principal investigator and professor at the department of community medicine and school of public health, PGIMER, Chandigarh.