Over 37,000 notices issued under Control of Smoking Products Act in six months
KUALA TERENGGANU: The Health Ministry has issued 37,381 notices for various offences under the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 since the law came into effect on Oct 1, up to March 31.
Health deputy director-general (Public Health) Datuk Dr Norhayati Rusli said the notices were issued in 10,212 operations conducted nationwide.
ALSO READ: Control of Smoking Products Act to be enforced prudently, says Dzulkefly
She added that 116 cases have been brought to court involving offences under the Act, involving Section 7(1), the Prohibition of Advertising of Tobacco Products; Section 9(1), Prohibition of Promotion or Sponsorship of Tobacco Products; Section 10(1), Prohibition of Sale of Tobacco Products; Section 11(1), Prohibition of Sale of Imitation Tobacco Products; and Section 12(1), Prohibition of Tobacco Products as Gifts.
During the same period, the ministry seized 11,563 smoking products valued at RM266,833.10.
ALSO READ: Retailers stop displaying smoking products
"Previously, the ministry conducted educational enforcement involving 206,657 persons engaged in the sale of cigarettes, to ensure they understand and comply with the provisions of the Act,' she said at the launching of enforcement operations under Ops Cakna Penguatkuasaan Undang-Undang Kesihatan Awam Siri 2/2025 here on Monday (April 21).
Also present was Terengganu Health Department director Datuk Dr Kasemani Embong.
Dr Norhayati added that the ministry takes smoking-related offences at gazetted no-smoking areas seriously and will intensify enforcement operations nationwide this year. – Bernama
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After the devastating 2018 floods in Kerala, they were also at the forefront of preventing rampant waterborne diseases. The health workers' grievances of poor pay and lack of respect stand at odds with Kerala's highly reputed public health system, which has achieved better disease control and maternal mortality and immunisation rates than most other states. Studies credit these healthcare triumphs to decentralised governance and the community engagement by more than 26,000 grassroots health workers. The Indian government defines Asha work under a national programme as voluntary, and the workers' payment an honorarium, not a wage. The workers are paid largely by the local state governments, with each state setting its own honorarium. When the Asha programme was launched in 2005, the honorarium nationwide was 500 rupees (US$5.83) a month. In Kerala, it has been gradually increased in response to protests every few years, up to 7,000 rupees a month since 2024. This still amounts to around 230 rupees a day, only a third of Kerala's legal minimum wage for unskilled labourers, which is 700 rupees. Ashas are also eligible for up to 3,000 rupees a month in performance-based incentives – this is paid by the state and national governments in a 60:40 ratio. 'I was shocked to discover how little the front-line workers of Kerala's proactive health system are paid. It's insulting,' said Dr Gopika Swarna Bai, a community health physician from Kerala who is now doing her residency in Mumbai, where Ashas are paid 13,000 rupees a month. 'Ashas know every household. For example, they spread awareness of a mass drug administration for filariasis for weeks, bring the 100 people, find chairs and shelter for them on a fixed date for doctors like me to just go and administer injections,' Dr Gopika added, noting that government nurses and doctors could be transferred, but Ashas have 'backyard knowledge' as they stay put in a region for decades. 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