RIYADH, 7 January — The Health Ministry is considering raising the customs duty on tobacco to discourage smoking and support efforts to fight against smoking-related diseases.
Addressing a press conference here yesterday in connection with an approaching conference in Riyadh of health ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, Health Minister Dr. Osama Shubokshi said the Kingdom is giving all possible cooperation to the World Health Organization to formulate an anti-smoking agreement.
The Kingdom is trying to increase the price of tobacco, although the Health Ministry did not have any role in the recently reported price hike.
Enumerating the actions taken by the GCC health ministries to curb the tobacco menace, the minister said tobacco advertising has been banned in the local media while smoking in public places and on airplanes is also prohibited.
Dr. Shubokshi said the GCC ministers will review a number of topics including means for combating heart diseases, diabetes and cancer.
Dr. Shubokshi welcomed the decision of the recent GCC summit’s decision to admit Yemen to the council of GCC health ministers. He also highlighted the existing cooperation between the Kingdom and Yemen in the field of combating infectious diseases such as malaria, Rift Valley Fever and bilharzia. The minister noted that three Saudi hospitals in Yemen have been providing medical services to people there.
The Kingdom has been allowing Yemeni students to join various training programs at Saudi medical institutes, the minister added.
Speaking on the maintenance of the quality of services in hospitals, the minister revealed that the regulations to guarantee quality specifications of hospitals in the Kingdom are the same as in the United States and Canada.
Apart from a section of the ministry to supervise and maintain the high standard of hospitals, there are special teams to make surprise inspections at hospitals to see if they violate regulations governing quality and standards.
Alzheimer’s disease is not as widespread in the Kingdom as in the West. However, there are presently no statistics in the Kingdom regarding the disease.
Replying on GCC’s globalization efforts in the medical sector, Shubokshi said the ministers are striving to unify medical industries in the region to gear up for globalization particularly in the face of stiff competition offered by advanced nations.
When asked about expatriate laborers suffering from infectious diseases illegally entering the Kingdom, the minister said there were several measures in place to address the issue with a particular focus on recruiting agencies. The penal measures include fines and cancellation of their contracts.
Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture and Water Abdullah Muammar denied that new cases of Rift Valley Fever had been discovered in the Kingdom where 124 people previously died of the disease.
The announcement came after 150 sheep died last week in the southern Jizan province, where the initial outbreak of the fever that also killed thousands of animals was recorded.
Muammar said laboratory tests conducted on the dead sheep showed they died of a type of plague that infects young ruminant animals and cannot be passed on to humans. (SPA)
