Director General of Health Services, Dr. Anil Jasinghe, has called for an end to the sale of cigarettes, as smoking increases people’s susceptibility to Covid-19. He is not alone in campaigning for a ban on cigarettes or ‘coffin nails.’ Chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol, Dr. Samadhi W. Rajapaksa, has also called for the banning of fags to help the country fight coronavirus more effectively. Smokers are more susceptible to severe symptoms of Covid-19 than non-smokers, he has told the media. The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has persistently striven to have smoking banned, but in vain. Sri Lankan politicians are wary of going the whole hog to save lives by banning tobacco products as they are scared of the powerful tobacco industry; they also cannot resist the lure of tax money. They ignore the fact that the cost of treating diseases, caused by smoking, is much higher than the revenue they derive from tobacco taxes.   

International health experts have also warned of the danger that smoking poses to the people, especially during the current coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Momen Whaidi, a leading pulmonologist at the Duke University Hospital, has gone on record as saying that smoking weakens lung defence and makes it harder to fight coronavirus. Smoking is among the factors that lead to the progression of the Covid-19 pneumonia, according to a study published in the Chinese Medical Journal. It is the patients, in this critical condition, who need ICU care, which is limited in any country.

The World Health Organization (WHO), which is leading the global battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, from the front, has this to say about the danger of smoking: “Any kind of tobacco smoking is harmful to the bodily systems, including the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. COVID-19 can also harm these systems. Information from China, where COVID-19 originated, shows that people who have cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, caused by tobacco use, or otherwise, are at higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms ….” 

The biggest problem faced by the countries, troubled by very high Covid-19 mortality rates, is a severe shortage of ventilators as well as other ICU facilities. The New York Times has reported that in the US, Covid-19 patients have to share ventilators. A similar situation prevails in other affluent countries, such as Italy. US President Donald Trump has said the death toll from Covid-19 could rise to 100,000, in his country. This being the predicament of the developed world, how helpless other nations will be in case of the Covid-19 pandemic getting out of control is not difficult to imagine. Therefore, the need for banning anything that weakens people’s lung defence, in the world, in general, and in the developing countries, in particular, cannot be overemphasised.

Sri Lanka fears the possibility of an explosive community transmission of coronavirus. There has been a continuous rise in the number of Covid-19 patients, four of whom have already died. Health workers, assisted by the military and police personnel, are making a frantic effort to flatten the curve. The next two weeks will be crucial, according to doctors, and everything possible must be done to curb the spread of the virus and prevent the healthcare system being overwhelmed. Smoking, having been identified as a major cause of the progression of Covid-19 pneumonia, the government must heed the doctor’s call for banning the sale of cigarettes.

Source 

The Island