Medi - snippets: Anti tobacco lobby gets shot in the arm | Sunday Observer

Medi - snippets: Anti tobacco lobby gets shot in the arm

1 July, 2018

The latest Supreme Court order on the Ceylon Tobacco Company ( CTC) to pay the legal costs of a widow of a deceased smoker has created a precedent whereby tobacco companies will be held accountable in the future. Sri Lanka Medical Association Expert Committee on Tobacco, Alcohol & Illicit Drugs Convenor Dr Jaymal de Silva has been quoted as saying that the tobacco industry has been making deliberate attempts to conceal the fact that smoking causes cancer. Now that it has been proven by scientific evidence the companies have started to say that not all smokers have got cancer and that cancer in smokers may have been caused by other factors. Dr de Silva has stated that Sri Lanka has had significant achievements in recent years in terms of tobacco control policies. Imposing 80% pictorial health warnings on the cigarette packets, increasing tax on tobacco to 75 % and banning the sale of loose tobacco were some of these achievements. He called on the health authorities to effectively implement the recently imposed ban on smoking in public places, and prevent exposing non smokers including children to second hand smoking.

Suwa Seriya 1990 has revolutionised health sector

The replacement of three wheelers which were the usual mode of transport for victims of road accidents and heart attacks, with the Suwa Seriya 1990 ambulance service has revolutionised the health sector, State Minister of National Policy & Economic Affairs Dr Harsha de Silva said at the commencement of the second debate on the 1990 Suwa Seriya Foundation Bill in Parliament, last week. He said, while accidents have increased there was no facility to take a victim to hospital other than a three wheeler. In the event of an injury to the spinal cord, a proper ambulance service was required to take the patients to hospital . Through this Bill, the 21 million population in the country and foreigners who visit us, will be able to use this service free of charge . They will have a fully fledged ambulance service and qualified medical personnel. This is not a mere ambulance service. It is more like a mini hospital”, he reportedly said. He said, emergency medical technicians would be available to accompany patients to the hospital .

The 1990 Suwa Seriya Service commenced in July 2016 in Hambantota, and later extended to several other districts, including Colombo. Dr de Silva said that since its inception the Service had received 584,520 emergency calls which were answered within two seconds, which was a 98.8% success rate. He further said, 88,599 ambulances had been dispatched in response to the emergency calls received . Of that 79,904 had carried patients who faced emergency situations, the majority ofwhom were those who suffered from vehicular trauma and cardiac trauma.

‘Eat Wise Drop A Size’

A health walk and run organised by the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) at the BMICH complex last week proved to be a great success, organisers said. Themed “Eat Wise Drop A Size, the run and walk saw over 2,000 health professionals, politicians , and members of the public taking part in the walk which started at 6.15 a.m, from the Independence Square to the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH.) Free medical check ups along with attractive prizes and healthy snacks were given to all participants.

Addressing the participants at the BMICH after the walk and run, Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne said, non communicable diseases were responsible for 70% of deaths in the world and in Sri Lanka it was the same percentage. “We have to reduce the numbers of people with NCD. This requires physical exercise. There was no point in losing body weight only. One has to lose tummy fat as well”, he is reported to have said.

Health Ministry officials said, to achieve this goal, it had already established 1,500 Suwanari Centres at government hospitals to diagnose NCDs .

International Day of Yoga

President Maithripala Sirisena gave his blessings for a healthier Sri Lanka with yoga by presenting himself as a participant when it kick started at Independence Square, last week.

Yoga is an ancient spiritual, physical and mental practise which originated in India. Its benefits to the body include increased flexibility, increased muscle strength and tone, improved respiration, energy and vitality, maintaining a balanced metabolism, weight reduction, cardio and circulatory health, improved athletic performance and protection from injury.

Student dies after attack by fellow students

School bullying is on a rampage once again.

A 16 year old boy succumbed to injuries after being brutally attacked by four fellow students. Mohamed Rizvi Mohamed Faizul who was the Head Prefect at the Warana Muslim Maha Vidyalaya had been assaulted on his way home after attending prayers at the Swawarana Colony mosque around 10 p.m on June 15. The Grade 11 student who was transferred from the Chilaw Hospital had been receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital ICU after head surgery .

Concerned authorities say, parental supervision is a must and school authorities too should be more watchful for signs of classroom bullying with guards posted outside school gates in vulnerable areas.

Frog in chicken kottu

A family in Ambalantota was in for a rude shock when they found that the chicken kottu they had bought for dinner had a large frog instead of chicken. The woman who bought it had immediately gone to the Public Health Inspector’s office in the area with the food and lodged a complaint. The PHI had confirmed that the food did indeed have parts of a frog.

This is not the first time such unsavoury foreign particles have been found in ready made food. Time and again health authorities from the Food Control Division have stressed the importance of avoiding, especially, kottu roti . Despite the fact that fines on eatery owners have been raised, the public complain that the fines are not enough to deter food vendors from introducing various pollutants into the food to cut costs.

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