Özlem Tekin and Isa Bülbül will mark World No Tobacco Day proudly this year on Tuesday. Smoking addicts for about four decades, they are the examples that the habit, which claims thousands of lives every year, can be kicked, with the assistance of treatment.
Going cold turkey or phasing out, 61-year-old Bülbül and 54-year-old Tekin failed to curb their habits for years, before they applied to a smoking cessation clinic in the capital Ankara. The clinic at Gülhane Training and Research Hospital of Health Sciences University, is among a number of health care facilities providing special treatment for addicts.
Professional, free medical assistance is the only option for many addicts, especially those who started out earlier in their lives.
"I first started ‘trying’ to quit five years ago but I could not," Bülbül laments. With doctors’ assistance, it took only two months for him to stop smoking. "There is really a big difference between trying to do it on your own and seeing a professional. Doctors’ advice and (motivational) talks helped me a lot," Bülbül told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday.
Ending the addiction paved the way for "great changes" in his life. "I can climb stairs without losing breath. I count my steps and it is now about 10,000 daily. I used to take 3,000 steps at most before," he said. Moreover, it improved the lives of those around him, including his wife who feared being a victim of diseases caused by secondhand smoking, and his grandson, who complained about his cigarette odor. "I was ashamed of being near him because of the odor. I wouldn’t smoke near him but I’d still feel guilty. He is happy now to see me stopped smoking," he said.
Özlem Tekin tried to kick the habit a number of times but was unsuccessful at every attempt. A cancer patient, she has seen her smoking affecting her more. "I was having heart problems, was out of breath and could not taste or smell properly," she listed as her complaints. What brought her to the clinic was her 8-year-old granddaughter. "One day, she told me she did not want me to die and asked me to quit. Just then, I made her a promise," she said. A 40-minute visit to the doctor convinced her that she could quit. "He told me how I can change my habits (related to smoking). I then started taking medication (to quit smoking.)"
"It improved my life. For instance, I can now save the money I spent on cigarettes. I can breathe easily. Coffee and tea taste better now. I used to see smoking as something that can alleviate my problems. I see it is not a ‘troubleshooter.’ I only regret for not doing it earlier," she said.
Tekin recommends fellow smokers not postpone their decisions to quit smoking. "The state gives you tremendous support. You can have free medication and doctors are very interested in helping you," she said.
Associate professor Yakup Arslan, a doctor at the clinic, said they offered every kind of assistance to people intent on quitting smoking. "Smoking-related diseases kill more than 100,000 people every year. This is a very high number if you compare it to the 98,000 people who died of COVID-19 in Turkey in two years," he highlighted.
Arslan said curing the smoking addiction required a multipronged approach, against "physical, psychological and social addiction." "You need to provide a treatment addressing these three at the same time. This is a process and the smokers should be well-informed about this process. Regular observation of smokers in this process increases the chance of success," he explained.
Turkey managed to curb smoking rates with a landmark ban on smoking at indoor venues in 2008, a long way for a country tested by the notorious habit that was once allowed even at hospitals. Yet, more than 15 million people still regularly smoke according to figures. Apart from the indoor smoking ban, the government had implemented all other options at its disposal to eradicate the addiction, from offering free treatment to addicts to placing steep taxes on tobacco products. Yet, the taxes, which hiked the price of the cheapest pack of cigarettes to around $1.40 (TL 23) increased the number of smokers turning to contraband cigarettes or hand rolled cigarettes with legally or illegally sold tobacco.
The Health Ministry also runs a hotline for addicts, which helped 40% of callers beat the habit last year.
Figures by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that 31% of fatalities among men in Turkey stem from diseases caused by smoking, while this rate is 12% for women. Every year, around 83,000 people die of illnesses linked to smoking.