Pressure check: Liow getting the reading for his blood pressure from a volunteer after launching Health Day in Puchong.
KUALA LUMPUR: Smokers must stop lighting up in enclosed air-conditioned areas and the Health Ministry will be stepping up enforcement against those who do so.
Action would also be taken against restaurant owners who allow smokers to puff away at non-smoking sections, Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said.
“Air-conditioned places such as restaurants must have a separate smoking area with their own vacuum system to prevent other parts of the premises from being polluted,” he told reporters after launching Health Day here yesterday.
“We will increase the number of raids and checks to ensure the rules are followed,” he added.
The intensified measures were decided after the ministry received complaints from the public that smokers were refusing to put out their cigarettes despite “No Smoking” signs.
Liow said the ministry would also try to work with shopowners to stop youths under 18 from buying cigarettes.
Those caught smoking at prohibited places and owners of premises who neglect the rules will face a maximum fine of RM10,000 or two years’ jail, or both.
On another matter, Liow said the animal feed industry in Malaysia was not affected by melamine contamination as the feed was not imported from China.
Later, after opening the fifth Tephinet Global Scientific Conference, Liow told reporters that the Nipah virus was not a threat in Malaysia because it had not been traced from the 649 cases of viruses detected by the Institute of Medical Research in the past eight years.
He said that of the 649 cases of Encephalitis viruses, 285 were identified as Japanese Encephalitis with 37 deaths reported from the Encephalitis virus from 2000 to 2008.
Liow said that the Government had taken a multi-pronged approach after the Nipah virus outbreak in 1998 and the latest steps taken by the ministry was in line with the World Health Organisation.
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