CIGARETTE taxes will continue to go up as part of the government’s anti- smoking campaign and move to reduce the financial burden of treating smoking-related diseases, said Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

The health minister told the Dewan Rakyat that cigarettes are still affordable in Malaysia and that the country will be staring at a RM7 billion bill to treat people suffering from smoking-related diseases if efforts are not made to improve control on tobacco use.

“In a study by the ministry several years ago, it is estimated the government will have to shoulder RM7.4 billion by 2025 if smoking remains prevalent.”

He was replying to Wong Chen (PH-Subang), who asked if the government will compile and publish comprehensive data on the economic cost of smoking.

Dzulkefly said Putrajaya will publish the data as it will help Malaysia in its implementation of tobacco control.

The data show that more than 20,000 adult men die annually from health complications related to smoking, he said.

The other costs of smoking-related diseases are lower productivity due to workers missing work and premature deaths of under 75 years.

The ministry and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia conducted a healthcare cost study on smoking last year and found that the annual cost to treat three smoking-related illnesses – lung cancer, heart diseases and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – amounted to RM2.92 billion.

However, Dzulkefly also acknowledged that increasing taxes on cigarettes would lead to more sales of illicit or contraband cigarettes in the black market.

Dr Ismail Mohamed Said (BN-Kuala Krau) in a supplementary question asked Dzulkefly if the ministry will discuss again with the National Fatwa Council, which declared smoking haram (not permissible), and work with the Islamic Development Department (Jakim).

Ismail said in 2015, the country lost RM4 billion from sale of smuggled cigarettes.

It was reported in 2016 that an estimated five million Malaysians or about 22.8% of adults age 15 and above were smokers, according to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS). – October 31, 2018.