The IMA, India's largest representative voluntary association of doctors with over 260,000 members, has written to President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Health Minister J P Nadda and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in this regard.
IMA is also leading 'Doctors for Tobacco Control in India' (DFTCI) forum incorporating organisations like Cardiological Society of India, Association of Physicians of India, Indian Academy of Pediatrics, Indian Dental Association, Public Health Foundation of India and HRIDAY.
"Pictorial health warnings (PHWs) are the most effective way of communicating the ill-effects of tobacco use, particularly among those with low literacy or no formal education. They are more effective than audio and text communication," National President of IMA, S S Agarwal said.
"India will be hosting the Conference of Parties (COP7) to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in November. Given the unbalanced report of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation submitted in Parliament during the Budget session, any reduction in size of warnings from 85 per cent norm will appear as the government succumbing to tobacco industry pressure and backtracking from the commitment made at COP6 in Moscow," Agarwal said.
"The Indian Medical Association has published an evidence based white-paper on tobacco control and will continue to assist in creating a repository of innovative and effective health messages conveying the multiple health effects of tobacco use," he said.