by Femi Sobowale

Created on: March 16, 2009

Hospitals as health delivery institutions designed primarily to enhance recovery from sickness should not accommodate special designated area for smoking, a habit that send millions of people to the hospitals in the first place. It is an indulgence that should be discouraged if billions of dollars spent on health care delivery is not being flushed down the drain. It is a misnomer to allow anyone smoke within the visinity of a hospital, not to talk of reserving an area in the same for smokers to enjoy their bad habit. Hospitals are not meant for satisfying people's wants, but rather to bring health care to the sick, and where prevention of sickness is practised, as opposed to the luxury of smoking.

It is against this backdrop that one is baffled that the question should arise at all. Any right thinking individual needs no counselling on the matter before allowing better judgment to prevail on the issue. In this era when the environment is being discussed at international fora, it is not a gainsaying to state that in order to save the environnment, everyone has a role to play in bringing about some measures to ensure that we keep our planet safe for the benefit of thelarger society. Aside from the health hazard that smoking impose on both active and passive smokers, the smoke emited through smoking is not environment friendly, and should be discouraged by all means possible.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about a third of the world's male population smokes, while in every eight seconds, someone dies from tobacco related disease. The statistics from the world health body indicates that more than one in five American deaths is caused by cigarettes use. It is also indicated that majority of the world's tobacco sales are controlled by conglomerates from USA, Britain, and Japan with an estimated 15 billions cigarettes sold daily, breaking down to about 10 millions every minute. With these staggering figures coming from reliable sources, one's concern is more arose when the issue of smoking is discussed.

Younger people are more prone to the lure of smoking, and this is the reason why it is very important to start educating this vulnerable population about the danger associated with smoking. Statistical evidence has shown that about half of those who start smoking at ages 13-15 continue the habit for upward of 15-25 years. Tobacco advertising has been fingered as a culprit in enticing and influencing teenagers to smoke, while death from smoking is expected to claim about one quarter of youth living in the Western Pacific Region.

The health hazard inherent in smoking can not be overemphasized. There are abundant evidence indicating that the habit is the single largest preventable cause of disease and untime death. To allow smoking in any area in a hospital setting is a direct violation of people's right to good health which the hospitals are meant to promote and protect.

Works Cited

www.wpro.who.int/media_center/fact_sheets/fs

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