‘DELAYING TOBACCO BILL ENACTMENT MEANS MORE LIVES WILL BE LOST’

By Lumbiwe Mwanza

THE more the Government drags the process for enacting the Tobacco Bill into law, the more lives will be lost and the higher health expenses will be, Centre for Primary Healthcare Public Relations Officer Paxina Phiri.

Speaking with The Scoop, Ms. Phiri lamented that despite efforts to engage the Government as to why the draft Tobacco Bill has stalled at the Ministry of Justice, no response has been given which she said raised speculation.

She said that the more the Government sat on the Bill, the more the country would lose lives of citizens and continue spending on tobacco related health expenses.

“As Civil society, on 17^th July this year, we took a letter requesting the Minister of Justice to explain why the draft Tobacco Control Bill has been delayed for over four months. However, to date, there is no response. So we don’t know why there is this delay but one thing for sure is that the more the Government sits on the Bill, the more people are dying and the more health expenses,” Ms. Phiri explained.

She said that the delayed enactment of the Bill had a huge toll on the country’s health status as the burden was more due to the lives of citizens who are directly or indirectly exposed to second-hand smoking.

She said that more factors needed to be considered such as Zambia’s capacity to handle health related challenges arising from tobacco use and that the Tobacco Control Bill should be pushed further for its enactment to avoid huge costs that would rise.

She said that Zambia did not have the capacity to treat and manage huge numbers of tobacco related health expenses hence the need as a country to have the Tobacco Control Bill enacted as soon as possible.