Cigarette detox, consultation centres to be improved next year

Hanoi (VNA) - Consultations about cigarette detoxification via telephone and at medical stations and hospitals will be improved.

That's one of the targets of the Vietnam Tobacco Control Fund's action plan for next year which was declared in a conference held in Hanoi on December 15.

Last year, the fund supported the Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital to found a cigarette detoxification consultation centre.

During the past year, the centre gave training on cigarette detoxification for more than 800 medical workers from 63 provinces and cities across the country.

The fund also set up the hotline 1800-6606 at the Bach Mai Hospital to give consultations on the issue. So far the hotline has received more than 8,000 calls.

This year, the fund will support 10 other hospitals across the country to open cigarette detoxification centres. The centres' work will be supervised and then expanded to other localities. The fund will improve the work of the hotline.

The fund's action plan has five other targets including raising people's awareness on the harm of cigarettes, expanding no-smoking models in offices and supervising the implementation of the Tobacco Control Law.

Associate professor Luong Ngoc Khue, director of the fund and director of the Medical Services Administration, said that last year the fund met some obstacles due to a manpower shortage and lack of co-operation between upper and lower levels at several provinces.

He proposed to enroll more workers to the fund's management office to ensure the fund's work process and quality.

People's Committees at provinces and cities should improve their inspection on the implementation of the Tobacco Control Law, especially the regulation of a smoking ban in public places, he said.

Addressing the conference, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Xuyen said that the rate of using cigarettes by youths in the country decreased from 3.3 percent in 2007 to 2.5 percent last year.

As many as 90 percent of youths using cigarette have the intention of giving up smoking.

It meant that cigarette usage had been prevented and is decreasing, she said.
The model of no-smoking tourism cities was conducted at many places such as Hue, Hai Phong, Hoi An and Nha Trang.-VNA