Today is World No Tobacco Day:

Most NCD related sicknesses caused by tobacco, alcohol

Nadira Gunatilleke

On World No Tobacco Day today, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena issuing a stark warning said 20 percent of hospital beds in Lanka are occupied by patients suffering from tobacco and alcohol related diseases. It was also revealed that over 72 percent of sicknesses in Sri Lanka are Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) caused by tobacco and alcohol addiction.

Around 20 Sri Lankans die of heart attacks daily while 600 are hospitalized for heart treatment.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa introduced ‘Mathata Thitha’ (Full stop to tobacco and alcohol) through his policy, Mahinda Chinthanaya no sooner he became President. Accordingly the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) established under Act No. 27 of 2006. Use of tobacco and alcohol leads to many NCDs such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, stroke etc. Smoking is the second cause of deaths and disabilities that occur due to NCDs.

This year the theme of the World No Tobacco Day is ‘Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship’. To mark this day, the public and school children to be educated with the assistance of the WHO and NATA. About 65 per cent of Sri Lankan population are subject to passive smoking and suffer from various diseases. WHO statistics say that about six million people in the world die annually due to smoking and of this number, 100,000 deaths are caused due to passive smoking. Smoking causes one death every six seconds in the world.

According to Health Ministry sources, Sri Lanka was the first Asian country and the fourth in the world to ratify the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Amendments are about to be brought to the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Act No. 27 of 2006 to strengthen and assist law enforcement officers implement the Act more stringently.

At present, public roads are not included in the list of public places where smoking is prohibited.