Ramadan incentive to give up smoking

The Sun

Monday, 05/07/2013

Kuala Lumpur : Muslims could take advantage of Ramadan to give-up smoking as they abstain from the habit during fasting hours, Malaysian Public Health Specialists Association(PPPKAM) vice-president Dr. Othman Warijo said yesterday.

He said a fatwa issued in 1996 explicity prohibited smoking.

“By giving-up smoking in this holy month, they will receive God’s blessings,” he said.

He added that the Health Ministry should step up efforts to create greater awareness in the young on the dangers of smoking.

“Although there is no actual estimate on deaths due to smoking in Malaysia, we are seeing a trend where people start to smoke at a younger age,” he told Bernama.

Othman called for immediate prohibitive measures, saying that when people start smoking at a younger age, they would be addicted over a longer period and it would become difficult for them to give up the habit.

Consultant cardiologist and physician at the Kuala Lumpur Heart Care Medical Centre, Datuk Dr. Mohamad Rafiq Ibrahim, said awareness on the dangers of smoking should be inculcated at primary-school level.

“We are heading towards becoming a developed nation. As such, efforts to instill awareness on the dangers of smoking must be implemented consistently by the government. Then, even children will begin to advise their parents to give-up the habit,” he said.

Mohamad Rafiq said smoking among women is also becoming increasingly evident in the country and cautioned that the habit would endanger the health of their children when they are pregnant.

Consumer Association of Penang (CAP) president S.M. Mohamed Idris said the government’s measure of raising the prices of cigarette was one deterrent for smokers to quit the habit.

Mohamed Idris also urged the Health Ministry to prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes and the smoking of shisha which he claimed also had detrimental effects on health.