JEDDAH: The General Court in Riyadh will begin hearing today a lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Health against agents of international tobacco companies in the Kingdom, demanding compensation of SR10 billion and an annual compensation of SR500 million for the expenditures incurred on the treatment of smokers.
“This is the first case filed by the ministry against agents of tobacco companies, demanding compensation for medical care,” said an official statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. “The court was ready to look into the case at a previous date but the tobacco agents did not attend that session,” it added.
In a previous statement on the issue, Health Minister Hamad Al-Manie said he was confident that his ministry would win the lawsuit since it provided statistics and medical data that showed how smoking destroys people’s health and eats away at social spending connected with smoking-related medical treatment of citizens.
The minister had met with representatives of tobacco companies in the Kingdom and informed them of the ministry’s plan to file a lawsuit. “We’ll go ahead with the lawsuit unless the tobacco companies paid the full amount of compensation ... I will not and neither will the ministry forsake the rights of patients,” he said.
In 1998, American trial lawyers, assisted by 46 state attorneys general, succeeded in getting tobacco companies to pay $250 billion over 25 years.
Al-Manie lauded the government’s efforts to combat smoking, noting that a royal decree had been issued to ban smoking in all government institutions and buildings. He also said that the Saudi law prohibits tobacco companies from placing advertisements in local newspapers or television.
He said anti-smoking clinics have been opened in various cities in the Kingdom as part of the ministry’s efforts to encourage smokers to give up the addiction. The ministry regularly organizes public programs that aim at creating awareness among Saudis and residents on the impact of smoking on a person’s health.
A new law to combat smoking in public and workplaces has been drafted and is awaiting Cabinet approval. The law is significant as Saudi Arabia tops the list of tobacco importers, according to 2007 statistics. Iran is placed second, followed by Jordan, Turkey, Morocco and Egypt.
