SEREMBAN: A total of 593 court notices were issued to the public in the state for smoking-related offences from Jan 1 to April 2 involving a total compound of RM163,600, the Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly was told today.

State Health, Environment, Cooperatives and Consumerism Committee chairman S. Veerapan said the notices under the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations 2004 were issued through 131 integrated operations on 2,515 premises throughout the state.

"The state health department is always sensitive to every complaint related to smoking incidents at eateries, supermarkets and any non-smoking areas and conducts daily operations. Every complaint will be investigated and enforcement action will be taken immediately," he said at the First Meeting of the Fifth Session of the 14th State Assembly here.

He was responding to a question from Yap Yew Weng (PH-Mambau) who wanted to know about the state government's action to tackle the issue of smoking in public places.

In another development, Veerapan, who is also Repah assemblyman, said the total capacity of hemodialysis treatment in the state was sufficient as there were 546 available slots in private hemodialysis facilities so far.

There are seven public hemodialysis centres under the Health Ministry operating in the state with 127 seats, besides three centres in private hospitals (102 seats) and 35 private hemodialysis centres (334 seats), he added.

-- BERNAMA