Society

Snapshot campaign to ban tobacco in hospitals

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-26 21:03

BEIJING - Wearing a black T-shirt and dark trousers, a young man, without any hesitation, lights a cigarette , inhales deeply and walks by a "No Smoking" sign in Sanya's People's Hospital, in South China's Hainan province.

He probably never suspected his image had been taken and posted on a microblog.

Initiated by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and the division of Health Promotion and Education with the Ministry of Health (MOH), the "Smoking Snapshot" campaign began Thursday and is intended to ridicule smoking in hospitals and public health institutions ahead of World No Tobacco Day, which falls on May 31.

The microblog aims to urge the public to join in tobacco control efforts, said Mao Qunan, director with the Health Promotion and Education Department. By 4 p.m., the site had more than 400 microbloggers as fans.

"People engaged in health and medical affairs should be the first to implement the ban on smoking," Mao said.

The campaign encourages netizens to upload any smoking photos in hospitals and health institutions on the official microblog at weibo.com.

Any patients, doctors or visitors who smoke in public indoor areas, as well as those who sell cigarettes on hospital grounds are snapshot targets.

The campaign has generated applause from experts.

"It adds an immense social pressure against smoking in public," said Jiang Yuan, deputy head of the China National Tobacco Control Office under the China CDC.

"Without a successful mass campaign, tobacco control is doomed to fail," Jiang said.

According to the 2011 China Tobacco Control Report released on Thursday, China has more than 300 million smokers, and about 740 million people, including 180 children and teenagers, expose themselves to second-hand smoke.

In 2009, the MOH set a goal to ban all indoor smoking in public areas in medical institutions by the end of 2011.

However, two years later and based on a secret investigation, the smoking-free conditions at many hospitals were far from satisfactory, Mao said.

"Smokers are everywhere, and we don't see anyone stop them," Mao said."Some male doctors even receive cigarettes as gifts and smoke in front of patients."

Hu Angang, director of the Research Center for Contemporary China at Tsinghua University, believes the campaign will lead to active supervision and raise public awareness on tobacco control.

"The mass supervision and smoker self-restraint can effectively work when everyone takes part," Hu said.

A microblogger called "sweet piggy" posted, "It is as easy as lifting a finger, and we might help people - so why not?"

Another netizen, "lost child," said when doctors smoke it diminishes their reputation, and they lose credibility when they attempt to advise patients.

"We need a breath of fresh air," "lost child" wrote.

Mao believes that as a new platform microblogs make a greater impact that can be measured.

"As netizens can help parents to find missing children via the microblog, they can also play a positive role to control smoking for the benefit of their families and friends," Mao said.

In March, the government included a public area smoking ban in its 12th Five-Year Plan, indicating that more changes may be on the way.