Anti-tobacco advocates, medical professionals call for tobacco sales ban as part of COVID-19 fight

Thursday, 23 April 2020 13:56 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A collective of nine medical professionals and anti-tobacco advocacy groups have written to the President and the National Operations Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19 (NOCPC) calling on them to ban the sale of all tobacco products in Sri Lanka during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Signatories include the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA), College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka (CCPSL), Sri Lanka College of Pulmonologists, Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) and Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) among others.

The collective points out that tobacco smoking in various forms is known to increase the risk of smokers contracting the virus and if infected developing severe complications including death. “Furthermore, tobacco chewing can increase the risk of spreading disease due to public spitting,” it stated.

The collective points to South Africa and India which have enacted similar policies and calls on the Government to look favourably on its proposal.