Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
A senior official of the Supreme Council of Health has called on the public to abide by the Tobacco Law in Qatar that bans smoking in enclosed public places.
The call came ahead of the World No Tobacco Day which falls on May 31. Qatar will mark the occasion with a series of activities including an exhibition at the City Center premises aimed at educating the public about the hazards of smoking. During the event, counselling will be offered for people who wish to quit smoking.
Director of Public Health at the Supreme Council of Health, Dr Mohammed Al Thani said, "Tobacco is the single most preventable cause of death in the world accounting for about five million deaths every year.
Jump to full article »
With the Ministry of Health intensifying its campaign against smoking, more people have been punished for violating the provisions of Law No 20 of 2002, which bans smoking in public places and regulates the import and sale of tobacco and its derivatives.
In January this year alone, fines amounting to QR35, 500 were imposed for various types of violations by the ministry's inspectors, many of whom have been given judicial powers. This represents a sharp increase from 2008, when fines to the tune of QR196,700 were imposed during the whole year.
Dr Ali Arab Ataullah of the anti-smoking unit at the ministry said the multi-faceted campaign against smoking had started delivering results.
The number of smokers in the country is estimated to be about 37 percent of the total population, including nationals and expatriates.
"There is an increased awareness about the hazards of smoking and there are indications the habit is declining in the country," Ataullah told
More than 400 people attended a special Health Lifestyles and No-smoking event held by the Management team of Salam Tower, with support from Qatargas, QChem, Chevron Phillips and other Salam Tower tenants.
The Qatar Ministry of Health and other health service providers supported the event, which aimed to promote awareness of the ill effects of smoking and encourage people to lead healthy lifestyles.
With an aim to promote awareness of the ill effects of smoking, the Ministry of Health supported the no-smoking campaign at Salam Tower on Monday. More than 400 people attended the special ‘healthy lifestyle and no smoking’ campaign along with health experts, also present at the venue.
There were even demonstrations on the ill effects of smoking and how cigarette smoke damages lungs. Cotton was placed in a tube and at the brim of the tube, a cigarette was allowed to burn. As the cigarette burned, the cotton turned yellow and saggy.
Faisal Ahmed, a teacher from Ahmed Bin Mohammad Independent Secondary School said, “The lungs also get discoloured in the same way causing excessive damage to the heart”. To demonstrate the above method Mosaab Gaily, Ahmed Jubran and Abdulla Abd al Rahman, grade 12 students of Ahmed Bin Mohammad Independent Secondary School took a proactive role in helping the people understand the harmful effects of smoking. . . .
Smoking seesha increases the risk of lung diseases and lung cancer too”. The event was supported also by the management team of Salam Tower with support from Qatargas, Qchem, Chevron Philips and other Salam Tower tenants.
the National Health Authority (NHA) is working on a draft containing recommendations for amending the law.
NHA is also recruiting more inspectors who will be given judicial powers to check violations of the provisions in the existing law.
The recommendations are being prepared by the Non-Communicable Diseases Section at NHA in cooperation with its legal department.
"We have been working on the draft but it is too early to talk about specific recommendations. The idea is to make the law compatible with international standards and the WHO guidelines," . . .
Currently, there are only six full-time inspectors and more than a dozen volunteers. NHA needs some 300 inspectors to cover the whole country.
QATAR will impose stronger warnings on all tobacco products soon. According to sources, all GCC countries will follow the practice of the World Health Organisation (WHO)’ Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) that they signed earlier this year.
“Qatar is working closely with the other GCC countries to work out the details, including customs, tax and labeling and might be able to implement the convention in early 2009,” sources said.
Bahrain announced on Tuesday that tobacco firms would be forced to print pictures of damaged organs, such as lungs and hearts, on cigarette packs in order to get entry into the GCC market. They would also have to make sure that 50 to 30% of a pack bear a larger warning statement on smoking hazards.
EXCESSIVE cigarette smoking may have a major role in altering sperm quality, thereby adversely affecting male reproductive health, a study conducted by Qatar University in collaboration with Hamad Medical Corporation has indicated. Seminal parameters such as sperm concentration, total sperm count and forward motility, and sperm morphology, which refer to the size and shape of the sperm, were changed due to heavy smoking, it was revealed.
As if smokers did not have it bad enough already, a group of 'enforcers' have been roaming around the Najma area of the city asking shopkeepers to stop selling cigarettes. While some shopowners have complied, others are selling cigarettes from literally under the counter.
A request for a package or a carton of cigarttes sees the counter salesman or his assistant scurrying to a back room to fetch the 'contraband'. In other cases, cigarettes have discreetly been stashed in the cash drawer while in other cases, they are kept in innocuous plastic carry bags.
A shopkeeper told The Peninsula yesterday when asked why cigarettes are no longer at hand: "One day a group of bearded men came to the shop and asked us to stop selling cigarttes. They were mutawas I think and certainly not from the municipality." . . .
Shopkeepers say the gentleman visitors were courteous and in no way threatening. A shopkeeper said: "We felt it was safest to listen to them. In any case, we are still selling cigarettes although not displaying them openly."
British American Tobacco joined forces with prominent cooperative societies to launch the Partners in Responsibility youth smoking prevention campaign in Kuwait. The campaign, which aims to raise awareness of laws that regulate underage smoking, was launched on the 4th of May 2008 in all outlets of Dasmah and Bnaid Al-Gar, Bayan, Al-Adeliyiyyah, Kaifan and Al-Rawda and Hawally cooperative societies. Bassem Bekdache, Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for British American Tobacco in the GCC stated that "We hope that the Partners in Responsibility campaign will help increase awareness of the law. We take the matter of youth smoking prevention very seriously and are backing up words with actions. In addition to Kuwait, this campaign has also been rolled out in Bahrain and Qatar with more countries to follow by the end of 2008."
A TOTAL of 52 participants including mall managers, restaurant and hotel managers, health professionals, legal experts, law enforcement agents and government officials recently attended a National Health Authority’s (NHA) workshop on Tobacco Law number 20 of 2002.
Penalties for violating the law include fines of up to QR5,000, closure of establishment which violates the law and jail of up to six months.
The aim of the workshop, which is one of the activities lined up for the commemoration of the ‘World No Tobacco Day’ was to discuss how to improve the implementation of the law among other things.
The theme for the year is ‘Tobacco-Free Youth’.
PEOPLE openly flout the law that bans smoking of tobacco in public or closed areas in Doha, Gulf Times has found. Most of the youngsters frequenting billiards club, Internet cafes and other closed areas have been found smoking cigarettes – in some instances, boys as young as 8 years old. “When the law was introduced in 2002, we actively campaigned against any smoking in public malls or hospitals and that saw the number of smokers coming down, with some even encouraged to the point of quitting. But the numbers are creeping back and going up,” said Dr Abdul Rasheed, president of India Anti-Smoking Campaign. According to him, the initiative lost its vigour a couple of years ago after the NHA was setup in place of the Ministry of Health (MoH).
e National Health Authority (NHA) has launched a public campaign in a renewed bid to effectively implement the anti-smoking law in Qatar.
The health authorities in the country have been facing criticism from concerned circles for their alleged laxity in implementing Law No: 20 of 2002 concerning the control of tobacco and its derivates.
The Authority has now started deploying inspectors with judicial powers to check violations of the law, especially smoking in public places. It has also issued posters and brochures to inform the public about the relevant articles of the law.
The National Health Authority (NHA) has launched a public campaign in a renewed bid to effectively implement the anti-smoking law in Qatar.
Doha * An expert from the Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery Section at HMC has lamented the lack of interest on the part of the authorities in effectively implementing the anti-smoking law in Qatar.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, Dr Omar Al Tamimi, consultant, Cardiology, said it was a pity that several coffee shops in Doha are now allowing their customers to smoke inside despite the fact that the law has banned smoking in public places.
FOUR Asian employees of a cigarette distributing company have been accused of selling cartons of cigarettes and pocketing the money from the proceeds amounting to QR209,000, sources said.
The four – three salesmen and a driver – were arrested on August 9. Authorities are investigating the case.