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Hospitals in Sichuan to go smoke-free

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Chengdu Evening News
October 30, 2009

Come 2012, medical facilities in Sichuan will require you to step outside for your smoke break.

Today's Chengdu Evening News announced the start of an anti-smoking campaign intended to bring the province in line with the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Twenty percent of the province's hospitals should go smoke-free by the end of this year, 50% by the end of 2010, and the rest by the end of 2011.

Conspicuous "no smoking" signs will go up, ash trays will be removed from conference rooms, and cigarette ads will be barred from hospital shops. Additionally, smoking will be incorporated into performance reviews for medical staff and their employers.

Some statistics provided by the newspaper:

  • Percentage of doctors in Sichuan who smoke: 16.89% (33.9% of male doctors and 13.8% of female doctors);
  • Average number of cigarettes smoked per day by male doctors who smoke: 12;
  • Percentage of doctors aged 60-69 who smoke: over 50%;
  • Percentage of doctors who have smoked in front of patients: 4.3%.

The money quote:

Professor Li Jing, head of the Huaxi Hospital Mental Health Center's Substance Dependence Department at Sichuan University, told this reporter yesterday...that although doctors may be more knowledgeable about medical matters than ordinary people, some doctors who smoke are insufficiently aware of how unhealthy smoking is, and believe that smoking is not very harmful.

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There are currently 3 Comments for Hospitals in Sichuan to go smoke-free.

Comments on Hospitals in Sichuan to go smoke-free

Just imagine if they'd tried to ban indoor smoking at all the hospitals by the end of the year!

There is obviously something wrong with this article.

It says "Percentage of doctors in Sichuan who smoke: 16.89% (33.9% of male doctors and 13.8% of female doctors)"

Since the total percentage is that close to the percentage of women, almost every doctor in Sichuan most be female. Quick mathematics make that there must be six times more female than male doctors in Sicuhan. I'm quite sure that is not the case.

It's an interesting topic though. If you find out why this stat is wrong, please email me: angkaloeu@yahoo.se

Cheers

jojje: I noticed that when I was summarizing the report. Unfortunately, I don't have the gender breakdown for Sichuan doctors. It could be a case of less-than-precise language — the stats portion, prepared by the paper, only mentions "doctors" (医生), but parts of the article that were lifted from the government notice use the term "medical staff" (医疗卫生机构工作人员).

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