A one-day seminar on "Smoke Free Universities" was organised by the Learning Innovation Department, Higher Education Commission (HEC) in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Ministry of Health at HEC Regional Centre, Karachi. Forty faculty members from different public sector universities of Sindh attended the seminar, which was aimed to emphasise that there is no sale point at universities nor is anyone allowed to smoke on the campuses.

The participants were urged to spread awareness about hazards of smoking and make their respective educational institution a "smoke free zone". Eminent resource persons Dr Javed Khan and Shahzad Alam Khan conducted various sessions of the programme and highlighted basic features of the seminar.

Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, Vice Chancellor, University of Karachi, was the chief guest at the closing ceremony. He appreciated the efforts of HEC in making the universities smoke free campuses. "Let us join hands to create 100 per cent smoke free environment for all the universities and campuses," he said.

It is important to mention here that University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore has already declared all of its 73 allied institution as 100 per cent smoke free. The Ministry of Health has established a 'Tobacco Control Cell' to implement Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). In this regard, a one-day seminar has already been organised for the higher education institutions of Islamabad.

Copyright News Network International, 2010