ELAZIĞ (AA) – Deputy Minister of Health Şuayip Birinci said: We want Türkiye to be a country where there is no cigarette sales after 2040. Our aim is to increase healthy living levels. he said. A ceremony was held for the National Tobacco Control Congress, hosted by Fırat University and organized by the Health Promotion and Anti-Smoking Association in a hotel in cooperation with the Governorship and the University of Health Sciences, which started on June 3 and will last until June 7.
In his speech at the ceremony, Deputy Minister Birinci said that the tobacco industry marketed cigarettes with different methods in the past, and today they maintain a similar approach with expressions such as less harmful and reduced harm. Stating that Türkiye has taken important steps in the fight against tobacco, Birinci stated that it is one of the countries that implements all elements of the World Health Organization’s tobacco control policies.
Stating that significant investments have been made in the field of health in recent years, Biri said: We are a country that has made incredible regulations, but we are still faced with a situation where we cannot achieve and we are facing serious difficulties. In the last 20 years, 50 percent more hospital capacity has been built in this country than has been built in 100 years. That is 1.5 times more. In fact, 3 times more hospital infrastructure has been built.
When you look at it in terms of technology, the best technology in the world is in Türkiye. You can consider it as if it is a reconstructed health system of a reconstructed country. There is such a huge infrastructure and this technological transformation. We have the best infrastructure in the world. The age of our hospitals has decreased from 50 years to 13 years. Despite this, one of the areas where we have failed is cigarettes.
– Health costs are increasing incredibly, and one of the main reasons is smoking. Emphasizing that health costs are increasing, Birikim said, Health costs are increasing incredibly and one of the main reasons is smoking. Chronic diseases are increasing. The elderly population is increasing significantly. In the next 15 years, the 65-year-old population in Türkiye will double and more than 50 percent of the 65-year-old population will have more than four chronic diseases.
he said. Stating that efforts to prevent starting to smoke are continuing, Birinci explained that, in addition to awareness and training activities, various policies have been developed by the Supreme Council for Combating Addiction. Stating that approximately 125 thousand people die every year in Türkiye due to smoking, Birinci said: One in every five people die because of smokers, even though they are not guilty of anything.
We want to use the destructive power of statistics to measure the damage we cause to innocent people around us by not choosing the right environments we drink from. We look at notification and cross-checks for smoke-free airspace inspection to prevent the passive factor. But the technology is so advanced that teams eliminate all elements in the environment until they get there. Quit smoking support lines work very effectively.
There are almost no smoking cessation drugs in Türkiye that we do not offer to our citizens free of charge. – We are planning to standardize cigarette packages. Stating that they are working on new regulations in the fight against tobacco, Birinci said, “From now on, cigarettes will be served in closed cabinets and in environments where people cannot see or see them.” We are making preparations to issue cigarettes with ID, like in Japan.
Hopefully we will achieve this. We plan to standardize cigarette packages in order to prevent approaches that target women in particular, with the concepts of thin, faint and less tobacco, in order to give the appearance of less harmful cigarettes. We want Türkiye to be a country without cigarette sales after 2040. Our aim is to increase healthy living levels. Stating that they are working on new regulations regarding tobacco use in open areas of health institutions and public institutions, Birinci stated that they wish to ban smoking in children’s playgrounds, parks and walking paths.
– We think it is necessary to wage a struggle in the field of youth and education, said the Rector of the University of Health Sciences, Prof. Dr. Kemalettin Aydın also stated that the purpose of the congress is to raise awareness about the fight against addiction. Drawing attention to the importance of studies aimed at young people in preventing cigarette addiction, Aydın said: The point put forward by the subject here is that, in addition to the difficulty of giving up a habit that has started, we think that it is necessary to struggle, especially in the field of youth and education, in order to prevent the habit from forming.
Tobacco products are not used anywhere in the universities that have received the smoke-free university philosophy and certificate. We wish to spread this to all universities, 208 universities in Türkiye, and all campuses of these 208 universities. In short, it is useful to tell our children this. Addiction can begin with pleasure, but it can result in death. This is true for all dependencies. Yasemin Açık, President of the Health Promotion and Anti-Smoking Association, also made a speech at the program.
Governor Numan Hatipoğlu, Mayor Şahin Şerifoğulları, Elazığ Chief Public Prosecutor Aşkın Yeğin, Green Crescent Chairman Mehmet Dinç, more than 300 scientists and guests attended the program.
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