The smoking of 'shisha' has recently become common in pubs and event hubs in Ghana.

It is a way of smoking tobacco through a bowl with a hose or tube joined on. The tube has a mouthpiece that the smoker uses to breath in the smoke.

Young people are considered to be the majority of people involved in the smoking of the product, with the claim that they are not harmful compared to cigarettes.

However, speaking on Prime Morning on Tuesday, a Clinical Oncologist at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Naa Adorkor Aryeetey, disputed such claims, saying that smoking shisha increases one's risk of cancer.

She said it can be more dangerous than other products like cigarettes and alcohol.

"A lot of young women are smoking shisha, thinking that because it’s going through water for some reasons, it doesn’t cause cancer. I’m sorry, shisha puts you at almost the same or even higher risk of cancer because they turn to be smoking more of the shisha."

She believes that the increasing prevalence of cancer risk factors is attributable to recent changes in the lifestyles of individuals.

Dr. Aryeetey has advised all medical practitioners to always consider cancer when diagnosing a patient based on their age.

According to the British Heart Foundation, Shisha can increase the risk of heart and circulatory diseases because it usually contains harmful chemicals. Sometimes, they are the same chemicals used in cigarette tobacco, which is harmful.

"These chemicals can make the walls of your arteries sticky, so fatty material can stick to them. If the arteries that carry blood to your heart get damaged and clogged, it can lead to a heart attack. If this happens in the arteries that carry blood to your brain, it can lead to a stroke."

As a result, shisha smokers can be at risk of the same kinds of diseases as cigarette smokers.