Background:
Both smoking and smokeless form of tobacco is widely prevalent & serious public health problem in India. Hospital workers are usually aware of dangers of tobacco products. Present study was conducted to describe prevalence & pattern of tobacco consumption, cessation practices, exposure to media & health morbidity among health care employees in Gujarat.

Methods:
A cross sectional study was conducted among Class III and IV employees of two big government hospitals of Ahmedabad & Rajkot city. Total 200 workers were included by stratified random sampling. Personal interview was conducted & Information about socio-demographic profile, tobacco use, health morbidities etc. was collected using W.H.O.'s tobacco questions for surveys (TQS). Data was compiled in excel & analyzed by appropriate statistical methods.

Results:
Overall prevalence of tobacco use was 82.5%. Prevalence of smoking & smokeless tobacco was 31.5% (31% male & 0.5% female) & 59.5% (47% male & 12.5% female) respectively. Mean age of smokers & nonsmokers was 43.0±11.8 & 36.5±13.0 years respectively (Z=3.51, P< 0.001). Majority (73.0%) were smoking daily & 62.2% were using smokeless tobacco daily. Majority(60.3%) were not smoking inside home but 63.5% were consuming tobacco at work place. 54% of smokers & 44.5% of smokeless tobacco users had tried to quit during past year, 23.8% were consulted doctor for the same & 81% of them were advised to quit smoking. Workers have noticed dangers of tobacco quitting information in TV (81.5%), Newspaper (72%) and Cigarette package (43.5%) while 19% have noticed signs of cigarette promotion. Smoking is significantly associated with history of pneumonia (85.7%) & Asthma (77.8%).

Conclusions:
Prevalence of tobacco consumption among health care employees is very high compared to general population. Intervention program should be planned for health care employees to reduce burden of tobacco related morbidity & to set up example for community visiting health care facilities.