No health safety without tobacco control: Nazim

Health Minister Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim stated last night that it is pointless to protect public health without taking steps against tobacco.

While speaking on Spokesperson of the President's Office Heena Waleed's podcast "Tharujamaanaa Eku", Nazim said that work needs to be done to control non-communicable diseases in regards to long-term illnesses. One of the biggest weapons against that is tobacco usage, and that the government has taken strong steps to overcome that danger, said Nazim.

The minister stated that banning vapes, increasing tobacco prices, prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2007 and enforcing stringent steps in the sale of tobacco are all important decisions.

"The improvement of the health system and all it entails without addressing the aforementioned will be pointless. It will be like pouring water into a bucket full of holes," said Nazim.

"The result of this will be our community becoming one that keeps its distance from tobacco products and usage. It has become a contributing factor to non-communicable diseases in Maldives and across the world as well. The steps that we take will become important ones in public health."

While there are many casualties due to non-communicable diseases, the minister said that the most important step that can be taken against that is to do medical checkups. Nazim highlighted that it can now be done via the government's budget.

As a way of strengthening the public health sector, the government is working to compile the data of everyone above the age of 18 from health centers.

As per Nazim, Maldives' health system began by prioritizing primary health care. Nevertheless, the result of letting such a practice go has presented obstacles.

In an effort to strengthen the system, work is being done to compile the medical data of everyone above 18 years of age and include it in the system, with the work having already been completed at 12 atolls. Nazim said that the rest of the atolls will follow in the next six months.

The minister said that with studies being done in individual islands, high risk patients can be identified ahead of time, with it empowering doctor appointments and checkups. 

"This is important information as we move towards the GP Clinic system," said the minister.