Cabinet clears surcharge policy to control tobacco

FE Team | Published: October 16, 2017 22:20:59

The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of the 'Health Development Surcharge Management Policy-2017', aiming to control tobacco use, prevent non-communicable diseases while creating mass awareness against the bad impacts of tobacco.
The approval was given at a meeting of the Cabinet held at the Prime Minister's Office with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair, reports UNB.
Briefing reporters after the meeting at the Bangladesh Secretariat, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said a law was already there for controlling tobacco use and the policy had been formulated as a guideline in this regard.
Shafiul Alam said that some specific suggestions have been incorporated into the policy regarding tobacco control and its use to establish Bangladesh as a smoking-free country by 2040 as declared by the Prime Minister.
The cabinet secretary said surcharge had already been imposed and the Ministry of Health was getting nearly Tk 3.0 billion (300 crore) a year, while the fund was used for implementing various purposes of the health sector, particularly the tobacco control and checking non-communicable diseases.
He said the fund would be used in 14 specific sectors to help ensure long-term management in the health sector, especially to create awareness among people against tobacco, prevent farmers from cultivating tobacco and create alternative employment opportunities for them.
Besides, research and training will be conducted as well as monitoring and evaluation would be accomplished under the new policy.
The Cabinet also approved the draft of 'The National Academy for Planning and Development Bill, 2017' translating the original law of 1979 into Bangla.
Describing the new law as a prototype one, Alam said there would be board of governors of the institution like other bodies.
The proposed law mentioned the formation of a 15-member board of governors and relevant minister and state minister will be made the chairman and vice-chairman of the institution, while its director general will act its member secretary.
The Cabinet also approved in principle the draft of the 'Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Council (BCSIR) (Amendment) Bill, 2017'.