Official relaxation of public health law



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Doors – Tala Ayoub

Ahmed (pseudonym), 33 years old, coughed several times in a row. He took his head in his hands to calm the headache that he felt. He was short of breath. The cough hit him again. He automatically put his hand on his chest, trying to relieve his pain despite the thick smoke of cigarettes. Colleagues in the same office where he works.

He underwent open heart surgery a few months ago, after taking his cigarette as a friend, and even paired with his mind for twenty years, that is to say since the 1980s. 13 years old. Greetings to trust and grace, and Tanth to health.

According to his doctor, who returned to his family's healthy history and studied his tests and analyzes, he concluded that smoking was the only cause of closure of a main artery of the heart, leaving him no further procedure except for open-heart surgery, risking stroke and side effects.

Ahmed was one of the smokers in Jordan, who joined 65% of the kingdom's population, said the head of the Department of Thoracic and Critical Care Diseases and the director of the cancer office of King Hussein's Cancer Center. Dr. Firas Hawari, in statements to the press on the occasion of the World Day to Quit Smoking.

Al-Hawari pointed out that Jordan is one of the Arab countries with the highest number of smokers and that the Kingdom ranks third among the worst because of the high prevalence of smoking among its citizens; which represents a serious threat to the use of tobacco in Jordan. General

According to the WHO website, tobacco smoke contains about 7,000 known chemicals, of which at least 250 are likely to cause damage and more than 50 of them cause cancer in the home. ;man.

Ahmed came out of his office for fear of a deterioration of his health and suffered a heart attack. He went to the street to breathe clean air and some passersby smoked, then went to a restaurant where customers also smoked and, on the way back, took away his friend who could not get to his home to smoke. A few cigarettes in the car, until Ahmed arrives home, complaining of the intensification of their symptoms.

Although he has quit smoking, ignoring others for his health and smoking nearby (cigarettes or cigarettes) has led him to take the negative side of smoking by inhaling it and thus harming him. his health.

Smoking affected not only his health, but also his physical condition: the average price of a pack of cigarettes that he smoked was two dinars. He smoked two packets a day, which cost about 120 dinars a month and 1,400 dinars a year.

Previously, Ahmed had been exposed to tobacco because when a foreign country intended to receive a sum of money that he was supposed to receive on a personal basis, he did not respect the law of this country, which banned smoking in public places, and lit his cigar at the airport. His voice protested against this, which led to the decision to prevent him from entering this country, which led him to return to Jordan without receiving the desired amount.

At the time, it was thought that the non-observance of the laws of this country was normal, like Jordan, and would end up with the strongest voice, but its attempts failed, which requires the rigor of the laws in force in Jordan and serious work to activate them and punish offenders.

Ahmed will continue to use drugs all his life and will not return to a normal life because he has been injured for a very record period and is medically expected to live no more than twenty years.

According to cardiologist Wael Fahad Al-Husami, 30% of vein arteries to bypass coronary artery blockage are completely closed in one year, 50 to 60% are closed within 10 years, and smoking or inhaling the smoke, the rate of closure causes bronchial edema, weakness of the heart muscle and death.

According to general statistics, the average expenditure of Jordanian households is 423 dinars, of which 7.6% in smoking and 3.6% in health.

Percentage of deaths due to smoking

Tobacco and heart disease, according to the World Health Organization's 2018 World Tobacco Day campaign: "One in eight deaths is attributable to smoking, far more severe than in the world where Equivalent to one death out of 10. "

In the same statement, the latest statistics show that tobacco accounts for 12% of all deaths in Jordan among people over 30, with tobacco accounting for the largest proportion of respiratory diseases, accounting for 34% of all deaths . 18% of cancers and cardiovascular diseases 13%, and these figures are increasing.

While Hawari estimates the number of smoking deaths at 61 per week in Jordan, according to data from the 2018 World Tobacco Atlas.

This means that the health effects of smoking are at an all-time low and we need to take significant and dissuasive action at the individual and government level to reduce the spread of the tobacco pest.

Laws and Legislation

Jordan is one of the first countries to ratify the 2004 WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a legally binding international treaty.

Jordan passed the Tobacco Control Act and incorporated it into the Public Health Act (47) in 2008 and other amendments to the 2017 law. However, its application is still weak. and its application is monitored in the most restricted cases.

In spite of the above, the "doors of opinion" have identified a number of drivers of student and children's transportation vehicles and children's vehicles. public buses that smoke without worrying about the harmful consequences of smoking on the health of people who use these means of transportation of healthy patients, children and adults, although the Jordanian Traffic Law No. 49 of 2008 prohibiting smoking in exchange for this, he was unfortunately not punished for allowing the driver of the private vehicle to smoke with healthy people or sick people or children on his boat.

"Second-hand smoke has serious health consequences for smokers and violates the right to live in a safe environment, at workplaces, shopping malls, restaurants and workplaces," said Dr. Hani Jahshan, senior legal adviser and expert in human rights. "Smoking is also a source of disgust for many citizens because of the unpleasant odors of smoke attached to furniture, clothing and walls, and the government has to deal with smoking because of the high cost of treating smoke-related illnesses. secondary."

Jahshan pointed out that the Jordanian legislator had entrusted to the Public Health Law No. 47 of 2008 the prevention of smoking in public places of the Ministry of Health with Articles 52 to 56 and provided for penalties. in case of violation of article 63 of the law.

"Article 52 of this law prohibits smoking in public places: hospitals, health centers, schools, cinemas, theaters, public libraries, museums, public and non-governmental buildings, passenger transport, arrivals and departures in the airports, playgrounds, amphitheatres, Year of publication of its decision in the Official Journal.

The amended Health Act (47) for 2017 seeks to prohibit smoking in enclosed public places and to change the definition of public place in accordance with the amendment. It is punishable by imprisonment for a minimum of one month and a maximum of three months, or a fine of not more than 100 dinars and not more than 200 dinars. By smoking tobacco products in public places where it is forbidden to smoke, and imprison for a period of at least three months and not more than six months or a fine of at least 1,000 dinars and no more than 3,000 dinars, to allow the person in charge of the public place Any tobacco product in place and no smoking prevention ad in place Year of sale of retail cigarettes and those under the age of eighteen and the distribution of sympathomimetic tobacco products or sell them.

Jahshan explained the reasons for non-compliance with the Public Health Act to prevent smoking in public places: "There is a prevailing culture in society that it is normal or fun to break the law without determine whether the Public Health Act or the Highway Code, for example, are not limited to. "

"Members of legislative, executive and law enforcement bodies openly violate public health law with contempt and contempt in their offices and meetings and publish it publicly on television, in newspapers and on websites."

"It is not expected that smoking will be addressed and prevented in public places at the national level in the following situations: some MPs, ministers, ministers and directors do not respect the law on public health, do not smoke not, do not look at the general public and do it directly on television.They are supposed to be role models for the public.

"Smoking is widespread in security centers by individuals, officers and auditors, it will not be processed in Jeddah, and prevention in security centers is a fundamental step in the effective implementation of the law. Public health Smoking is common in all courts without serious law enforcement initiatives in the institutions concerned Justice "" Some doctors, nurses, health professionals and auditors have the habit of smoking in hospitals and health centers, and there is no public health law enforcement mechanism on the ground ".

"Smoking is also common in government departments and institutions, such as the Department of Civil Status, Industry and Commerce, for example employees or revisers, despite the fact that the law imposes anti-smoke plates ".

It should be noted that any serious initiative to prevent smoking in public places at the national level should start in the National Assembly, in the offices of ministers, courts, security centers, hospitals, health centers, ministries and government institutions.

He stressed that the Ministry of Health should adhere to the Public Health Law, develop programs and plans, allocate human and financial resources to implement it in the field, monitor and evaluate sustainable implementation and to give up the delay in dealing with such a serious public health problem.

"Specialists must seriously tackle the problem of smoking, and immediately because we are going to be exposed to a noncommunicable syndrome of noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and respiratory tract," he said. he declared.

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