Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne says that the government will take necessary steps to ban the sale of loose cigarettes in the near future.
Speaking during a discussion held with the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), the minister also said that plain white cigarette packaging will introduced very soon.
During the meeting, GMOA Secretary Dr Navin de Zoysa had presented 10 proposals to curb smoking in the country to the Minister of Health.
The discussion also focused on issued such as doctors’ annual transfers, appeals and post intern appointment lists while the minister had issued instructions to prepare said lists immediately.
Topics such as appointing annual transfer board and enrolling the children of doctors to schools were also discussed during the meeting.
The GMOA had expressed its opposition to the budget proposal to tax government employees. Senaratne had said that he intends to discuss this with the Minister of Finance in the future.
