Most of China's more than 350 million smokers have no idea that tobacco addiction is a disease requiring medical treatment to quit, medical experts said.

Because people think smoking is just bad habit, few smokers turn to doctors for assistance, said Wang Chen, president-elect of the Chinese Thoracic Society who also heads China's first smoking cessation clinic at the Chaoyang Hospital.

Wang's clinic, opened in 1996, receives four to five patients each day. In contrast, other doctors at the hospital handle more than 50 patients daily.

The situation for the rest of China's 100 or so clinics specializing in treating smoking is even worse, said Xiao Dan, professor of the WHO Collaborating Center for Tobacco or Health.

A recent survey by Sohu.com found more than 55 percent of Chinese smokers said they wanted to quit for health reasons, while nearly 70 percent said whether or not someone can quit successfully is determined entirely by willpower and perseverance.

"That concept, held by the majority of people, is wrong," said Wang, citing scientific research that showed less than 3 percent of smokers can stop smoking for more than one year without treatment.

Awareness of remedies for tobacco dependence is still low in China, the world's biggest cigarette producer and consumer, Wang said. In contrast, it has long been considered and addressed as a chronic disease in most developed countries.

In Japan, the government began to cover the medical cost for smoking cessation three years ago, a move which encourages smokers who want to quit to seek professional help, according to Masahazu Nakamura, a smoking cessation doctor in Osaka.

The number of smoking cessation clinics, in response to rising demand from smokers, has increased from 300 to 8,000, he told China Daily.

Many smokers successfully quit smoking with their help, he added.

"With government support people will be less harmed by tobacco."

Wang Yalun, an official with China's Ministry of Health, said the ministry would train more qualified doctors in smoking cessation and establish more such clinics nationwide.

A survey by the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2004 showed most of the 3,650 doctors sampled knew little about smoking cessation treatment and the drugs involved.

Despite improved awareness among doctors in the last few years, China still has fewer than 1,000 qualified smoking cessation doctors, Xiao said.

Smoking cessation has been integrated into China's medical education since 2006, she said.

Smoking cessation is unique for each individual and the methods that work well on one smoker might not be useful for another, said Lam Bin in Hong Kong.

"Good doctors help each smoker find the most effective medication and solve side effects like depression and anxiety during treatment," he said.

Every treatment session, including counseling, lasts 40 minutes, said Xiao, adding the cost of drugs varies from several hundred to several thousand yuan.

"The success rate is 25 to 30 percent," she added.

(China Daily August 18, 2009)