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Dr Kailash Chand
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‘Ban cheap booze deals’ – GP
Adam Derbyshire30/ 7/2008
FORTY per cent of admissions at Tameside Hospital’s accident and emergency department are alcohol-related.
Those are the shocking figures according to local doctor Kailash Chand who claims cases of liver damage caused by drinking has trebled in the borough since the mid 90s.
Health chiefs say their records show almost 5,000 people were admitted to Tameside Hospital for booze-related problems last year.
The cases, which amount to six per cent of overall admissions, mostly dealt with illnesses such as cirrhosis and other liver diseases.
But Dr Chand claims the recorded figures fall way short of those actually treated in casualty with alcohol at the root.
He said: "They exclude thousands of cases where patients were made ill by alcohol indirectly, such as breast cancer, stroke and heart disease.
"In addition, the figures don’t include the admissions due to injuries caused by drink-fuelled violence or road accidents.
"The realistic figure is closer to 40 per cent."
The Ashton GP, who chairs the local British Medical Association, wants cheap supermarket booze deals to be outlawed and ‘happy hours’ in bars to be scrapped.
Dr Chand said: "I sincerely believe that ‘lifestyle’ illnesses will put an increasing strain on local health services unless people behave more responsibly.
"NHS data show that, in the 12 years to 2006-7, cases of alcoholic-related liver disease trebled in Tameside and Glossop.
"There is real danger that resources needed to tackle other diseases will have to be diverted if there is no change in behaviour.
"A time bomb is ticking, alcohol-related illnesses are occurring in increasingly younger people and liver disease often strikes those in their 20s and 30s.
"The introduction of 24-hour drinking has compounded the problem.
"It has failed to reduce alcohol-fuelled violence and has left council taxpayers with bills of millions of pounds.
"Urgent legislation is required, including cigarette-style health warnings on bottles and cans, a ban on happy hours where bars sell cut-price drinks and rules forbidding supermarket discounts."
James Purnell, MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, was instrumental in bringing in legislation to allow 24-hour drinking.
The former licensing minister said: "The Government introduced tougher measures to crack down on problem
premises as part of the legislation.
"There is a rising trend of young people drinking unsupervised in public places, which has caused a lot of the problems. We want to ensure that the young people of today do not become patients of tomorrow."
Earlier this year, an Advertiser investigation found children as young as 10 had been admitted to Tameside Hospital suffering from drink-related illness in the past 12 months.
And more than 100 youngsters under 16 were admitted to casualty because of booze in the past two years, the probe revealed.
Most recent 2 of 2 user comments
I do get lashed at the weekends but I don't start causing problems for other people through drinking. I don't see why I and others have to pay more tax for other peoples lack of consideration.
It is alright for MPs to say that we should pay more alcohol tax as they are allowed £30 a day to spend on food alone and claim it back off the tax payer - that's equivalent to my weekly shop. Plus the parliamentary bar has a subsidy of £8,500 PA per MP! Equivalent to £50 for each MPs working day.
See: http://www.order-order.com/2008/07/how-will-mps-cope-with-76-days-of.html
Then don't get me started on the massive salary that GPs are paid. Yes, I do think GPs do a fantastic job and it is a highly skilled profession, but so do other people in health care, but GPs pay rises have gone through the roof compared to other people.
Once again the nanny state is upon us telling us what we should and shouldn't be doing.
31/07/2008 at 09:35
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31/07/2008 at 11:32