The Health Ministry has barred the sale of cigarettes in hospitals and all other
medical facilities, including health fund clinics.
A document that
Prof. Arnon Afek, head of the ministry’s medical branch, sent to other
senior government officials on Thursday stated that tobacco may not be sold in
shopping malls within hospitals, nor in the medical centers
themselves.
The ban is on the sale of any form of tobacco, whether for
smoking or chewing, for pipes or nargilas, in shops or kiosks or from vending
machines.
The ministry circular defines “hospital” as “any building that
is used or meant to be used for receiving people who suffer from an illness,
wound, physical or mental deficiency or for receiving women giving birth,
whether for pay or not.”
Afek added that the medical facility must ensure
that the rule was observed.
In any financial dealings, new tenders or
extensions of existing tenders, the condition of prohibiting the sale of tobacco
must be included and observed as well.