Islamabad - In a fascinating development, a leading Karachi-based tobacco industry joined hands with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) to commemorate the International Volunteers Day here on Friday. 

The tobacco industry and the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) established a blood donation camp, from morning to noon, in the parking lot of Saudi-Pak Tower. According to an official press release issued by Lakson Tobacco Company, employees of various companies working within Saudi-Pak Tower and the tobacco industry were motivated to donate blood under their joint blood donation awareness campaign themed ‘Roll up your sleeves and save a life.’

The press release further reports Dr. Ghulam Murtaza Qureshi, Assistant Director, Blood Donor Center, PRCS, as stating how “very encouraging” it is “to see Lakson Tobacco Company employees stepping forward in remembering the International Volunteer Day. We hope that other corporate sector organizations would follow their example.”

Reacting to the news, the Coordinator of the Coalition for Tobacco Control, Pakistan, Khurram Hashmi strongly condemned the tactics of the tobacco industry and urged the Ministry of Health to take strict notice of desperate activities through which the industry is trying to revive its lost image. “This is totally unacceptable. We will formally lodge a protest with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Ministry of Health,” Khurram said.

The CTC chief asked: “Isn’t it ironic for a tobacco industry being so worried about the health and lives of the common man?” He said the theme of the blood donation camp should have been ‘Smoke a cigarette and die,’ rather than ‘Roll up your sleeves and save a life.’ He also proposed that the tobacco industry should come up with another initiative through which it can help the government pay off the hospital bills of patients who die due to the use of their products.

A member of the National Alliance for Tobacco Control (NATC) stressed that tobacco is the most powerful addictive substance currently available in the world. “Unfortunately, the tobacco industry in Pakistan has been given a free hand to promote its deadly products. Holding of medical camps and blood donation drives are just another way of promoting their products and must be discouraged. Such kind of promotion by the tobacco industry is completely banned in many countries of the world,” he stated.

Lately, NWFP Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development Sitara Ayaz visited a one-day free medical camp arranged by Pakistan Tobacco Company in a Basic Health Unit in District Swabi, where she praised PTC for “serving humanity.” “The honourable minister needs to visit hospitals and see the victims of tobacco,” Dr. Javaid Khan, chairperson of NATC states in a letter to the editor published in a newspaper. “On the one hand, they are busy increasing the incidence of lung cancers, strokes, and heart attacks in the country, and on the other, are trying to fool the innocent public by providing so-called free treatment to patients,” Dr. Javaid points out.

Reacting to the comments of the PRCS director, an official working for the World Health Organisation (WHO) expressed concern over the highly reputed organization shaking hands with the tobacco industry. “It is unbelievable. We, in the UN system, cannot even think about such a joint venture,” he added.

Another anti-tobacco activist shed light on the last part of the press release where the said tobacco company has portrayed itself as a socially responsible entity. “Corporate Social Responsibility is nothing but a new gimmick being used by the tobacco industry to pressurize the Ministry of Health and other health regulators,” he said.

The activist said, the tobacco industry is trying to gain the support of the common man by applying new tactics such as CSR to pressurize the regulators. They are trying to create an impression that if the tobacco industry is asked to close its business, hundreds and thousands of people will lose their jobs; a similar number will suffer due to closure of health setups; and people will suffocate to death as the tobacco industry is planting millions of trees,” he went on to add.

Friday’s blood donation awareness campaign is being projected as “the latest initiative undertaken by LTC under its LTC Employee Volunteer Programme (EVP).” “Earlier this year, LTC EVP activities included donation to SOS village in Ramazan where the employees donated from their own pockets and the company matched the proceeds rupee to rupee. Another project was the LTC Computer Literacy Programme where the employees voluntarily participated in sharing computer knowledge with the children of the factory workers,” the press release further informs.

This bold step by a tobacco company is yet another direct blow in the face of the Ministry of Health and the regulators, who always beat the drum of their success in the field of tobacco control.