73 percent of the 685 patients who came to the Cessation Clinics Snuff of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) managed to quit the habit of smoking, the president Maria del Rocio Saenz stated on Tuesday.
The campaign to eradicate the use of snuff took into account the percentage of afflicted who attended the 27 clinics (Institute of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, or IAFA) nationwide from March 2015 to the same month this year. In 2014, 490 of the 590 that attended these health centers managed to do this.
Smokers who attend clinics should undergo an examination to determine the degree of addiction, which is measured by a device that calculates the amount of carbon monoxide in the blood and another that indicates the lung age of the person concerned.
After informing the individual of their degree of involvement, you can attend 8 group sessions that are held 1 time per week. In these workshops that can take up to 4 hours, they are given psycho-behavioral therapy and other activities such as meetings with former smokers.
Depending on the level of addition of each patient, the therapy to be followed is determined individually. In addition, doctors are responsible to follow up through phone calls and appointments.
“Relapses are normal… smoking is not only an addiction it is a chronic, recurrent, relapsing disease and in the process through stages professionals try to recognize this and that these people seek help when they fall,” he explained pulmonologist and in charge of the campaign, Wing Ching Chan.