No-Smoking call goes unheeded

No-Smoking call goes unheeded

MEDAN, North Sumatra: The May 31 'No-Smoking Day', launched by the World Health Organization (WHO), passed largely unheeded in Indonesia's third-largest city.

Cigarette smoke rose freely, as usual, from bus terminals, markets, roadside food stalls and even from the city police headquarters, Antara reported.

Some people said they were unaware of the world organization's call to refrain from smoking for one day. They claimed they did not know that yesterday was world "No Tobacco Day."

Public ignorance regarding the call was a source of dismay to the chief of the North Sumatra provincial health office, Masrul Siregar, who had published an announcement in local newspapers.

"We have even posted notices at hospitals and other public places about the WHO appeal," he said. (pan)