Tobacco Free Initiative

Arabic web site

Key areas and groups

Tobacco free health premises

Doctors have a major responsibility to keep all health premises tobacco free. How to start? And how to go on?

• In the Eastern Mediterranean Region nearly every Member State has legislation or regulations which protect health premises from being exposed to any thing that might endanger the patients. Usually smoking comes under this kind of legislation.

• First you have to find the regulations, to build your claim upon it.Ask the Ministry of health or the national Medical assosiation or syndicate.

• After that, you have to discuss the matter with your colleagues and patients, make sure that you are not alone in this. Patients are very important in this battle; the reputation as well as the future of any hospital depends on how comfortable they feel in it. So it is better not to leave them out of your battle.

• After making sure that others are supporting your claim, go ahead with it. Try first to talk to a nonsmoking boss; if that is difficult try to choose someone who has supported similar claims in the past. The idea is to get the maximum support before taking the matter higher.

• Try to be as positive as you can: you are not against smokers but you are concerned about the hospital and its reputation as well as patients’ health.

• Make sure that your claim is clear, you are asking for a tobaccofree hospital, totally free from tobacco. There will be no area for smokers inside the building. They can smoke in the garden or wherever they want as long as it is not indoors.

• Also there will be fines for smoking inside the building. The administration will benefit from this step. 1/3 of the fine could go to the collectors themselves. The rest will go to the hospital to do whatever is needed to raise its service quality.

• You know what you want. Plan well before raising the issue. Make sure that all the details are covered. Remember that the aim of your proposal is clear … better hospitals and a better atmosphere for patients.