ISLAMABAD; Sana Ullah Ghumman, General Secretary, Pakistan National Heart Association (PANAH), on Monday said it was duty of the government to take positive steps to save the health of the nation and eradicate harmful factors.
The current budget will be the first step towards pushing the people towards deadly diseases instead of keeping them away from diseases by not implementing the practice.
He said “We reject in the current budget the non-application of tobacco industry practices that buy diseases for the public, Ghuman appealed to the government to reconsider its decision.
Sana Ullah and Dr. Zia-ud-Din Islam, Former Director, Technical Head of Tobacco Control Cell, Ministry of National Health Services, noted in their joint statement that the covert operations of the tobacco industry have resulted in getting favours in upcoming budget.
They Wandered how welfare organizations work was made difficult through giving undue favours to the tobacco producers,
“The years of hard work have been watered down by non-implementation of tobacco practices that sent a wave of disappointment among the people and welfare organizations”, the joint statement of health experts reads.
Former Director Technical Head of Tobacco Control Cell, Ministry of National Health Services, Dr. Zia-ud-Din Islam said strong recommendations were made by the Ministry of Health to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Ministry of Finance to impose additional tax on tobacco to reduce its use and so the diseases and increase revenue, but, sadly, all the efforts of the Federal Institution of Health were thwarted, and the tobacco industry were given benefits in budget 2021-22. Sana Ullah Ghumman said we appeal to the government to reconsider its decision of not imposing additional tax on tobacco to save the health of the people without any pressure.
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