DOHA • To give more teeth to the anti-smoking law in Qatar, the National Health Authority (NHA) is working on a draft containing recommendations for amending the law.

NHA is also recruiting more inspectors who will be given judicial powers to check violations of the provisions in the existing law.

The recommendations are being prepared by the Non-Communicable Diseases Section at NHA in cooperation with its legal department.

“We have been working on the draft but it is too early to talk about specific recommendations. The idea is to make the law compatible with international standards and the WHO guidelines,” Dr Adenike Ajani, acting head of the non-communicable diseases section told The Peninsula yesterday. It is expected that the proposed amendments would address issues like smoking while driving and the dangers of passive smoking.

She said the NHA had also initiated steps to implement the existing law more effectively. The law has banned smoking in enclosed public places like offices, shopping malls and restaurants and imposed restrictions on the import and sale of tobacco and its derivatives.

“Currently we have a few inspectors, bestowed with judicial powers and they are working mainly in the shopping malls. But we need more people to cover all areas in the country. We are in the process of recruiting more inspectors,” said Ajani.

Besides full-time staff inspectors, the NHA also recruits volunteers to work as part-timers. “Any government employee can volunteer for the job and there is certain procedure for selection. Once the volunteers are chosen, we will issue them a card, giving them judicial powers to work as inspectors and take action against violations,” said Ajani.

Currently, there are only six full-time inspectors and more than a dozen volunteers. NHA needs some 300 inspectors to cover the whole country.