Ferguson…we weren’t talking about drinking, we were talking about alcohol abuse and its effect on people.
Dr Fenton Ferguson, former health minister, has revealed that legislation is being drafted for a policy on alcohol shortly after the Tobacco Control Bill was introduced to parliament and approved in 2013.
But since he moved to the Department of Labor and Social Security in 2015, his ministry has not fare as well with alcohol as it has with cigarettes.
Jamaica does not have a policy on alcohol, but the issue has been discussed in recent years as a necessary inclusion following Health and Human Services Minister Christopher Tufton’s decision to deny donations from alcohol manufacturing companies in 2021. increase.
Dr. Tufton has drawn the ire of corporations when he told hospital administrators to reject the gifts J Wray & Nephew offered to fight COVID-19. The company had offered to donate $45 million worth of his alcohol products, which he uses at 12 hospitals and facilities in the fight against the pandemic.
But the minister said that all departments, employees or officials of the ministry are prohibited from accepting donations, gifts or assistance sponsorship from tobacco or alcohol manufacturing companies.
In a memorandum to management on Monday, October 11, Dr. Tufton wrote:
“As a signatory to the WHO (World Health Organization) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Jamaica has agreed to implement key provisions under this international treaty, including a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion. .
“The draft Policy on Harmful Use of Alcohol, approved by the Cabinet’s Personnel Committee in June this year, aims to prevent and/or reduce advertising, sponsorship, and youth-targeted advertising of alcohol. The alcohol policy is amended to include the prevention of donations to draft government agencies, officials or employees.
“Accordingly, it is not permissible, as Department of Health policy, for department agencies, officials, or employees to accept donations, sponsorships, gifts, services, or assistance, in cash or in kind, from tobacco or alcohol manufacturing companies. its subsidiary.”
J Wray & Nephew signals public health sector to supply facilities with products from local medical supply organizations, and other private sector companies follow suit and donate to the nation It was less than a week before I appealed. effort. Ironically, at the start of the pandemic, the same company donated his 100,000 liters of pure alcohol to the health sector, worth over $250 million and was accepted by the government.
Another alcohol giant, Red Stripe, also donated large sums to the COVID-19 cause.
“I was a far cry from the country’s alcohol policy,” Dr. Ferguson said. I came.”
Dr. Ferguson said the attempt at the time was not to try to prevent alcohol consumption, but to undertake a plan to combat alcohol misuse.
“Yes, we weren’t talking about drinking… what matters is alcohol abuse and its effect on people,” said the former MP.
“Looking back at cigarettes,” emphasized Dr. Ferguson. [tobacco manufacturer] Carreras did so with welfare programs, but there are still attacks on the health care system…not just for lung cancer, but for other concomitant diseases that smoking affects.
“Tobacco has cost governments billions of dollars, not just the dead, but the living, and the health system is taking care of them,” Dr. Ferguson said.
Alcohol manufacturers usually plan “responsible drunk driving” campaigns to warn consumers of the dangers of consuming large amounts of alcohol and then driving to their destination.
Recent statistics do not show the number of traffic accidents caused by excessive alcohol consumption.
