Calling for a ban on smoking in public places in the Maldives

Here’s something that we, the Maldivians, can draw a great lesson from. Since smoking was banned in public places in New York, five years ago, more than quarter of a million people in the city have stopped smoking, according to recently released statistics. This has also dramatically reduces the number of people dying from smoking-related illnesses. If we ban smoking in public places in the Maldives we could indeed dramatically reduce the number of smokers and reduce the number of people dying from smoking-related illnesses. This could save us million of Rufiyaa in reduced imports of cigarettes and also save us millions of Rufiyaa in healthcare for smoking-related illnesses. The savings would be used by the state for investing in social infrastructure and the individual savings could be used by the individuals as pure savings. The improved health could mean more productivity.
Hence we call upon the next (democratic) government to ban smoking in public places and achieve the above-mentioned benefits for the country.