One serious problem in our life is the stark contradiction between what we are told and what we see with our eyes. This is best illustrated in the fight against smoking where, it seems, we lack good examples to follow.

Doctors keep warning us against the dangers of smoking; they repeat the warnings at seminars, conferences and public meetings. A smoker attending such a function and listening to what the experts say would come away in no doubt that in order to live, he or she must give up smoking. Stepping out of the meeting and into the hospital, the smoker will meet a shocking scene: doctors reaching into their pockets to take out a packet of cigarettes and lighting up in front of everybody. By doing so, these smoking doctors have negated whatever their colleagues have been saying for years when they present statistics and a wide range of evidence to prove that smoking is indeed dangerous to health and well-being.

I appeal to the Ministry of Health to intervene and take action against doctors who betray their profession and their colleagues and who show no respect for their own and other people’s health — the very lives, incidentally, they are required to protect. The punishment could be a gradual one, beginning with both verbal and written warnings, salary deductions and, as a last resort, expelling from the profession those who insist on smoking.

The Ministry of Trade and Commerce also has its responsibilities. It should take action against tobacco companies and importers of cigarettes obliging them to design packets that clearly illustrate the dangers of smoking; the illustrations should portray damaged lungs and teeth blackened by tobacco.

Awareness campaigns that have succeeded in their fight against tobacco companies in countries such as the United States should be intensified. Imagine one tobacco company has allocated $10 million for an advertising campaign in one Gulf state where 50 percent of young people are smokers. It is time our media stopped accepting tobacco advertisements since they aim at leading people into a harmful habit.