SMOKERS TO PAY INCREASED HEALTH...

SMOKERS TO PAY INCREASED HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUM

RIYADH: Smokers in the Kingdom will have to pay an increased premium for their health insurance policies, Health Minister Hamad Al-Manie said yesterday, while spelling out a series of measures to be undertaken by his ministry to discourage smoking.

The minister has directed insurance companies to categorize between smokers and nonsmokers, and to impose an additional premium for smokers since they fall in a high-risk class.

Smoking was the main cause of 3.38 million deaths worldwide, including 13,544 in Saudi Arabia, last year. Smoking is expected to kill 500 million people by 2030, predicted a joint report issued by the World Health Organization and the World Bank in 2000.

Al- Manie said his ministry would not entertain any business transactions from tobacco companies in future.

“We have instructed the purchasing, supplies and maintenance departments in the ministry not to accept quotations for the supply of products and services from such companies,” he added.

Under the new rule, companies engaged in selling tobacco or cigarettes, and individuals who are board members of such companies will be prohibited from registering as contractors with the Ministry of Health. “The companies will not be given medical licenses to operate as the ministry’s contractors,” the minister said.

“According to the minister’s directives, we are working out a set of new rules to combat smoking in the Kingdom,” said Ibrahim Sulayman Al-Musaidteer, director general of the Legal Department in the Ministry of Health.

Al-Musaidteer said despite increasing awareness about the harmful effects of smoking, many continue to smoke. “It is the ministry’s duty to look after both the interests of smokers and nonsmokers who become victims of second-hand smoke,” he said.

Al-Musaidteer said the minister would take the new initiative to the GCC Health Ministers Council for implementation in other GCC member countries.

The ministry is also planning to set up a model anti-smoking clinic in Riyadh to combat the menace. Over 50 anti-smoking clinics in the Kingdom will be electronically linked to the new model clinic for the exchange of information and experience.

It is estimated that 35 to 40 percent of the people in the Kingdom above the age of 15 smoke. Around 24 percent of male students between the ages of 13 to 15 and eight percent of girl students smoke.

The Council of Ministers is currently drafting a new law to combat smoking in public and in workplaces. The bill will impose a SR200 fine on people who smoke in public.

The draft law insists that smoking areas should be separated from public places and people aged less than 18 should not be allowed to enter them. It also stresses that cigarettes should not be sold through vending machines and should not be given free of charge or as gifts.

The Kingdom tops the list of tobacco importers, according to 2007 statistics. Iran is placed second, followed by Jordan, Turkey, Morocco and Egypt.

Mohammed Rasooldeen - Arab News