164 Health
known to their families. The goal is to get people to recognise voluntary organ donation as a commendable act.
Some 29 liver transplants, 65 renal transplants, five heart transplants, one heart-lung transplant and 179 cornea transplants were carried out with cadaveric organs in Hong Kong's public hospitals in 2008.
Smoking and Health
Legislation
China is a signatory to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) of the World Health Organisation (WHO), rendering provisions of the convention to be applicable to Hong Kong. To further protect the public from the hazards of second-hand smoking and to enhance Hong Kong's compliance with the FCTC, the Government amended the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance in October 2006 to expand statutory no smoking areas to all indoor workplaces and public places and to strengthen the regulation on advertisement, promotion, packaging and labelling of tobacco products.
Under the amended Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance, smoking is now banned at all indoor workplaces, indoor areas of restaurant premises, bars open to all ages, karaoke establishments and other indoor public places, child care centres, schools, hospitals, escalators, parks, as well as swimming pools and beaches under the management of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Extending the smoking ban to qualified establishments (namely qualified bars, clubs, nightclubs, bathhouses, mahjong-tin kau premises and designated mahjong rooms in qualified clubs) will take effect from July 1, 2009.
In addition, the Fixed Penalty (Smoking Offences) Ordinance enacted in 2008 requires people who smoke illegally at statutory no-smoking areas and in public transport to pay a fixed penalty of $1,500. In addition to the Police and tobacco control inspectors, staff of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and Housing Department are also empowered to serve fixed penalty notices on offenders.
Implementation and Enforcement
A main task of the Tobacco Control Office (TCO), set up in 2001, is to enforce the smoking ban at statutory no-smoking areas. It conducted over 13 000 inspections and issued over 7 300 summons for smoking offences in 2008. Another of its key tasks is to assist managers and staff of establishments in the statutory no-smoking areas to observe the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance. In 2008, TCO organised 18 seminars on tobacco control and prevention. Some 640 people attended the seminars. They included venue managers of no-smoking areas and the public. The TCO also distributed over 580 000 sets of health education materials (including guidelines, posters, no smoking signs and pamphlets) to venue managers of statutory no smoking areas and the public. It will continue to provide training and support to relevant stakeholders and the public.