Staff Reporter
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).
The MoH had launched an aggressive campaign with seminars, conferences, public walks and anything else at its disposal, along with the participation of civic society.
Lured by the ‘cool’ tag that smokers carry, teenagers have been found resorting to smoking tobacco, in schools, friends’ houses or parks off late. For others, its usually the peer pressure, while they try to ‘fit in’.
“The law, nevertheless, was comprehensive and it covered everything from discouraging shopkeepers to sell to under-aged, complete ban on tobacco advertisements in the country and hefty fines for violaters. We just failed to build on the initial momentum,” said Dr Ahmad al-Mullah, director, Stop-Smoking Clinic of Tobacco Control Unit in the Pulmonary Section at Hamad Hospital.
According to Dr al-Mullah, with the formation of the NHA, things are in a transition now and once completed, the department will come out with campaigns to discourage smoking and also to apprehend those flouting the laws.
“We have been provided the faculty of thinking and emotions. An argument by a teenager that he or she smokes to relax does not make for a case. They should instead involved themselves in activities that rejuvenate the mind and the body,” said Dr Abdul Rasheed.
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