'Ministry embarking on national plan to curb smoking'

The health ministry is embarking on a robust National Program to reduce the smoking habits, in this regard a PC-I of Rs 34 billion is under submission. This was announced by Shaheen Masud, director general, Implementation Tobacco Control Program, while addressing the participants of a one-day workshop organised by the health ministry aimed to establish a journalist health forum here on Wednesday.
Health Director General Rasheed Jumma, Health Additional Secretary Imtiaz Ilahi, World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative Dr Khalif Biled, FBR officials, and medical experts were also present on the occasion. She said that to control the increase of tobacco use the ministry has planned a five Years Strategic Plan of Action endorsed by the stake holders.
She said that strong influence of the tobacco industry, weak implementation of the ordinance, lack of knowledge of FETC in general and tobacco control deemed as the sole responsibility of the health ministry are the major constraints. The health ministry is facing in its efforts to control tobacco use. Speaking on the occasion, the WHO representative said that the best way to control and reduce tobacco use is to increase tax on tobacco products.
He said that tobacco use imposes tremendous costs on economies, resulting in millions of premature deaths and undermining the health of millions of people. "Tobacco use jeopardises the productivity and efficiency of a country's labour force. In addition, significant evidence is building that ban on smoking to create smoke-free environments do not have a negative impact on business and, in fact, appear to have either a neutral or slightly positive economic impact", he maintained
He also said that the higher taxes on tobacco will reduce government tax revenues and will boost smuggling. "It has been repeatedly demonstrated that higher tobacco taxes translate into higher tobacco-related tax revenues, even taking into account the related drop in tobacco sales. Countries such as Canada, Spain and the UK have shown that smuggling can be effectively tackled with measures whose cost amounts to a mere fraction of the additional tax revenues", he added.
Other speakers were of the view that one of the most effective ways to protect young people from the harms of tobacco use is to ban advertising or promotion of tobacco products, and the sponsorship by the tobacco industry of any events or activities.
They informed the participants that unchecked, tobacco-related deaths will increase to more than eight million a year by 2030, and 80 percent of deaths will occur in the developing world, including Pakistan. The Health director general stressed the collective efforts to control the use of the tobacco, saying the government is trying its best to overcome this issue through various ways. He asked the media to play its role in this regard.