Smoking is a curable disease, experts say

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.