MOH hopes Control of Smoking Product Bill will be tabled early June

MELAKA: The Ministry of Health (MOH) hopes that the Control of Smoking Product for Public Health Bill, which will regulate all smoking products including those containing nicotine, will be tabled in Parliament early next month.

Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni said the bill is of paramount importance to protect the health of the young generation and it comprises two main aspects, namely the control of smoking products including vape and e-cigarettes and the implementation of generational endgame (GEG) policy.

"The bill could not be tabled in the previous parliamentary session due to the dissolution of the previous government, but the Ministry of Health is committed the bring the bill for first reading to the parliament after the Kaamatan and Gawai holidays.

"Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa brought the bill paper to the Cabinet last week and I was informed that the Cabinet has agreed for the Ministry of Health to table the bill for the first reading," he told reporters after launching the national-level World No Tobacco Day 2023 here today.

Also present were Melaka Health, Human Resources and Unity Committee chairman Ngwe Hee Sem and state Health director Datuk Dr Rusdi Abd Rahman.

Commenting further, Lukanisman said the implementation of the bill needs to be expedited because according on the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS), the number of e-cigarette users among teenagers in this country increased by 14.9 per cent to 307,109 last year compared to 9.8 per cent or 211,084 in 2017.

Of the total, 242,849 users were teenage boys while 64,260 were teenage girls, he added.

"The increase in the number of e-cigarette users among teenagers is very worrying, therefore in order to overcome the issue and problem of the use of smoking products especially among children and teenagers, legal control needs to be strengthened through the bill," he said.

-- BERNAMA