Tobacco bill to go before cabinet soon

The Ministry of Health has finished reviewing the Tobacco Control Bill and is in the process of submitting the bill and the accompanying memorandum to cabinet.Dr George Sipa Yankey, Health Minister, said it was possible that some time this July, the bill would be sent to cabinet for consideration after which it would be forwarded to Parliament for further action. The Minister was responding to a question from the Member for Evalue Gwira, Mrs Catherine Afeku, in Parliament.The member had sought to know, as a matter of urgency, when the bill would be laid before Parliament.In response to another question from Ms Shirley Botchway, Member for Weija, on when the Communicable Diseases Clinic at Weija would be upgraded to a hospital, the Minister said the upgrading remains a priority of the Ministry."An assessment of the suitability of the proposed site for the project has already been carried out by the Capital Investment Management Unit of the ministry."Expansion and upgrading of the clinic would be done as soon as funds for the capital projects submitted for consideration are approved by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning," Dr Yankey said In response to another question on steps to curb the collapse of the Tanoso Health centre in Techiman in the Brong- Ahafo region, the minister said plans were far advanced to procure basic equipment to all health facilities in the Techiman Municipality under the High Impact Rapid Delivery Programme to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
Source:GNA