CAIRO: Minister of Heath, Ashraf Hatem said Egypt will increase taxes on cigarette by 70 percent. The taxes will be collected for his Ministry in coordination with the Ministry of Finance. Hatem said the planting tobacco helps the revival of Egyptian economy are baseless, especially since Egypt is better known with wheat and cotton planting. He affirmed the Ministry of Health annually bears $3 to 4 billion cost of treating diseases caused by smoking. Hatem said 170,000 patients die every year because of smoking, noting that Egypt rates tenth country worldwide in tobacco consumption. Hatem called in celebration a Non Smoking Day to increase awareness among patients. A comprehensive survey of tobacco consumption by World Heath Organization (WHO) shows around 20 percent of Egyptians are smokers while the rest subjected to the secondary smoking. Top physicians and doctors from the Ministry of Heath attended the celebration. Around 20people die per hour due to smoking, according to a member of the anti-smoking administration in the ministry, Ihab Atteia. Atteia said the ministry cooperated with the concerning company to launch a Facebook campaign to attract citizens to convince them to give up smoking.
