Beyond the cloud: smoking Chinese doctors

In 2005, China ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). To meet the conditions set out by the FCTC, the Chinese Ministry of Health issued a formal decision in 2009 to completely ban smoking in all health administration offices and medical facilities by the end of 2011. This initiative is a landmark event in the increasing commitment by the Chinese government to tobacco control. Many hospitals are now “smoke-free”, but only nominally, since the Ministry of Health does not have the authority to issue/implement laws. The regulation is a policy in nature. Patients, visitors, as well as physicians, continue to puff within the hospital premises, and even within the offices and wards.