By SHALENDRA PRASAD
IT is high time for the government to completely shut down the tobacco industry, says the former president of Fiji College of General Practitioners (FCGP) Dr Ram Raju.
Reacting to the recent announcement by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) to propose a hike in tobacco taxes with an aim to raise additional $53 million over the next five-years, Dr Raju who is also the president of the Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) says tax hikes as such for the last 40-years have borne no positive results.
“We have seen tax hikes for tobacco products for the last 40-years but that has completely failed to tackle or curb the use of tobacco in Fiji and not done any good to prevent tobacco related illnesses and deaths either,” Dr Raju said.
“There is only one way forward and that is to completely shut down the industry and find alternative sources of incomes for the tobacco farmers and the two manufacturing companies that we have in Fiji,” Dr Raju added.
“The tax hikes have done no good to stop the prevalence and increase in tobacco use and the subsequent damage it has caused to the public health through direct and passive smoking is shocking.”
Dr Raju also disputes the annual tobacco related medical bill of $318 million that was recently highlighted by the news outlets in Fiji.
“The fact is, the impact and amount of damage caused by tobacco use is not $318 million annually but double the amount as per statistics revealed by the Health Ministry and World Health Organisation (WHO),” Dr Raju said.
He said Fiji is losing $600 million a year on medical bills for tobacco related health issues and the $53 million which the ministry is trying to generate with tax hikes over the next five-years does not do any justice.
“In a gentleman’s term, it is called being penny wise and pound foolish,” Dr Raju said.
“I would also dispute the figure of 1200 deaths per year caused by tobacco smoking illnesses. The figure is far more than that and proper research needs to be conducted in this area.”
Dr Raju also proposes that all tobacco farmers be encouraged to plant fruits and vegetables or given licenses to plant medicinal marijuana and that the factories be turned into food processing plants for fruits and vegetables.
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* Shalendra Prasad is a former community newspaper publisher and a freelance journalist based in Nadi, Fiji
