City Desk :
Tobacco Control Law is not being complying in city’s hospitals. Health Ministry should take the necessary steps in this regard. According to article-6 of Tobacco Control Law-2005, there is the specific provision to display alert notice at public places including Hospitals. Smoking is completely prohibited at the hospital adjacent area but the relevant authority has showed reluctant to implement the law at the hospital premises, according to a recent survey in 6 city’s hospitals.
This information revealed in a press conference titled ‘Implementation of Tobacco Control Law’ at Dhaka Ahsania Mission Bhaban auditorium in the city on Wednesday. Two separate surveys were carried out during 22-25 February and 29-31 March 2014 in six hospitals, including Hospital of the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM Hospital), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital (BSMMU Hospital), Hospital of the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Pongu Hospital), Sarkari Karmachari Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardi Medical College Hospital, and Dhaka Shishu (Children) Hospital.
Dhaka Ahsania Mission Deputy Director Iqbal Masud presided over the press conference, Executive Director of Environment Council (EC) Bangladesh Arif Sikdar, Prof. of National Heart Foundation Sohel Reza Chowdhury, Convener of Anti Tobacco Women Alliance Farida Akter and Co-ordinator of Progga Imtiaz Rasul were present in the conference.
Speaker said according to the law, though smoking is prohibited at hospital premises, all smokers are seen to smoke in all of the hospitals during the survey. Even in the emergency cell of Pangu Hospital a smoker is seen to smoke. Hospital authority did not pay any heed to take any measures during these two phases of survey. It was observed that at Pangu and Saheed Suharawardy Hospital cigarettes sellers rampantly selling cigarettes at the boundary area of hospital. Moreover most of the cigarette sellers are seen to sell the cigarettes close to the wall of Birdem Hospital. The sellers stay in the 50-100 meters boundary area of those six hospitals.
