THE Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations Malaysia (FPMPAM), a national body representing doctors in private practice in Malaysia, has renewed its call to the Health Ministry (MOH) to consider the science of harm reduction before rushing ahead with its generation end game (GEG) policy.
MOH’s proposed bill which is currently being reviewed by the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) will ban the use and sale of cigarettes and vape products for those born after 2007.
“There are many credible studies with supporting evidence for harm reduction. Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians have authoritative reports documenting overwhelming scientific data that harm reduction efforts can work with proper regulatory framework in place,” FPMPAM’s president Dr Steven Chow pointed out.
“It is also pertinent to look at other new studies from other countries where harm reduction programmes have been in place for many years.”
Chow said the field of tobacco harm reduction in Malaysia is in sore need for comprehensive basic clinical epidemiological research with time and resources needed to explore this option.
“Rushing the GEG and excluding harm reduction from the policy would be a missed opportunity, as we may be losing out on an achievable option that can have a meaningful impact on the tobacco epidemic.”
FPMPAM which has more than 5,000 members across seven state-level associations in the country further opined that general medical practitioners (GPs) who are key stakeholders must be engaged when drafting the policy.
“The GPs are the persons who are the first touch point for the patient,” stressed Chow. “Doctors trained in quit smoking programmes have the relevant expertise, experience and the nationwide network to engage with smokers. They understand the psyche of those wanting to quit.”
Additionally, the GPs are also aware that it is not only the nicotine dependence/addiction that makes quitting cigarettes difficult given some individuals smoke for stress relief and other psycho-social pleasure.
“These issues do complicate the individual patient’s resolve to quit smoking. The GP is a key asset in any quit smoking programme and their input is valuable to the national GEG conversation,” insisted Chow.
“Beyond engaging with stakeholders, the MOH must also look into conducting more methodologically sound clinical epidemiological studies on harm reduced products.”
This is because differences in the risk profiles of all non-combustion nicotine products need to be quantified and regulatory policies and clinical recommendations should be tailored to address their different risk profiles.
“Studies observing the health of long-term users of these products are also a must. Data from all these are pre-requisites studies must be available before one can develop a comprehensive and viable tobacco-free landscape for future generations,” insisted Chow.
“It will be disastrous if we have to do a U-turn on GEG five-years down the road.” – Sept 14, 2022
