Zubair Qureshi
Parliamentary Secretary of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination Dr Nausheen Hamid said that the government was going to introduce the first national tobacco control policy to address the challenges of tobacco control and associated health issues in the country.
The policy will be introduced by the health ministry in consultation with all stakeholders working on Pakistan’s first-ever draft National Tobacco Control Policy which will be finalized in a month.
She said this during a roundtable meeting titled “Understanding Tobacco Control Regime in Pakistan” organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). The roundtable was attended by members of both Senate and National Assembly Standing Committee on Health, whereas officials from Tobacco Control Cell of Health Ministry and members of civil society also participated in the meeting.
Dr Nausheen Hamid said research regarding alternative crop against tobacco is currently underway by three agriculture universities to help facilitate the tobacco growers and farmers.
She said the challenges in implementation of existing laws of tobacco control and weak regulation is mainly due to lack of an effective reporting mechanism. In this regard, the Prime Minister of Pakistan has recently launched a Mobile Application “Smoke Free Pakistan” for reporting of violations of tobacco control laws, which will help improve the implementation of laws and regulations, she added.
Chairman of National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Khalid Hussain Magsi while expressed his committee full support regarding all tobacco control efforts, he stressed the need for collective fight against tobacco industry. He said that smokeless tobacco, such as e-cigarettes and Juul, are more injurious for human health and a young generation must be educated and aware of its dire consequences.
Member Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Ayesha Raza Farooq on behalf of her committee also express resolve and support for tobacco control legislation. She emphasized the need for greater political will at the top level and urged the all stakeholders to refrain for politicizing the health. Waseem Iftikhar Janjua, Senior Research Associate, SDPI while apprising the legislatures on tobacco control regime in Pakistan highlighted major regulatory challenges in the country. He said that Pakistan is signatory to Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and ratify the convention since 2004, but Pakistan lacks a legal and official definition of tobacco products as per FCTC guidelines. Furthermore, lack of law to ensure smokeless tobacco warning, lack of law on advising cessation, unregulated vaping, lack of research on health cost of tobacco, and poor penalties and enforcement mechanism are major regulatory challenges which require urgent attention of the authorities, he added.
