Anti-smoking roadshow lures many to cessation clinics

An anti-smoking roadshow organised by the European Union and which is touring all 25 member states has attracted a lot of interest from the Maltese public.

An inflatable two-storey high structure has been put up in Freedom Square, Valletta. The hard-to-miss structure is part of a European-wide campaign focusing on smoking prevention, giving up and the dangers of passive smoking.

Members of the Health Promotion Department were present on site to provide informative material and answer queries by the public.

A good level of interest was shown in the campaign yesterday, with a number of people going forward to ask questions and avail themselves of the services offered by the department.

In fact, until 3 p.m., about 100 applications for cessation clinics were collected. The two-hour courses are being held in various health centres around the island during the week.

"We were swamped," Stephen D'Alessandro, managing director of D'Alessandro and Associates Ltd, the local representatives taking care of the campaign, said, adding that they were very satisfied with the response.

Mr D'Alessandro said this showed that people were interested and that smokers wanted to find a way to quit smoking, although this was not easy.

Anne Buttigieg, a smoking facilitator within the Health Promotion Department, stressed the importance of enforcing the law prohibiting smoking in public places except in special smoking rooms.

"If people see somebody smoking in a public place they should phone up the police station of the locality and report it," she told The Times.

Ms Buttigieg said people running an entertainment establishment could be fined between Lm100 and Lm500 if a person is caught smoking in their establishment and smokers could also incur a fine. She stressed that people running an establishment had the responsibility to stop a person from smoking indoors.

She emphasised the importance of leading by example, adding it was useless for parents to tell children not to smoke if they themselves smoked.

Smoking has been linked to a number of health conditions, including lung cancer and cardiac problems. Ms Buttigieg said smokers were more likely to suffer from poor health conditions and be dependant on others when they were older, rather than enjoy a good quality of life.

The roadshow leaves on Sunday.

Application forms for the cessation courses can be downloaded from http://www.health.gov.mt/health_services/smokces.htm or collected from the Health Promotion Department. The department can be contacted on 2123 1247 for further information.