Some 97% of the places that were inspected again by the Center for Health Policies and Studies (PAS) to see how they obey the Law on Tobacco Control posted the No Smoking sign in the most visible place, at the entrance. In 91% of the monitored places, no one smoked when the inspection was carried out. PAS programs coordinator Gennady Turcanu, in a news conference at IPN, said the implementation of the law one year after its adoption is at a satisfactory level, but those who break the law should be monitored stricter.
The monitoring covered 326 restaurants, cafes and bars, 72 health facilities and 70 education institutions of Chisinau municipality, Balti municipality and Cahul town.
Violations of the law were identified in 9% or 30 of the examined public eating places. In 17 places or 57%, they smoked only hookahs there, while in 9 places or 30% they smoked both hookahs and cigarettes. In another four places or 13%, they smoked only cigarettes there.
Smoking places can be set up outside only near public eating places. In the case of health facilities and education institutions, this is banned by law. However, there were smoking places at two education institutions in Balti and one health facility in Chisinau.
Gennady Turcanu said one third of the places where smoking persons were detected in 2017 are among the places that broke the law in 2016 and were identified during the monitoring last year.
The monitoring involved volunteers of the Association of Medical Students and Residents, Center for Health Policies and Studies, Platform for Active Citizenship and Partnership for Human Rights and civic activists of Chisinau and Balti municipalities. The monitoring was possible owing to the project “Moldova free from cigarette smoke” that is financed by “Campanian fos Tobacco-Free Kids” and “Bloomberg Philanthropies” and is implemented by PAS.
