Tue, 03 Oct 2000

Smoking mad at Persahabatan

I am enraged by the number of smokers loitering about and fouling the air in the hallways and corners of Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta. It appears to me that not much has been done to enforce the "no smoking" signs scattered everywhere on the premises, maybe because the hospital has put its request very politely: "Thank you for not smoking." So if some people do light up, they face absolutely no consequences.

I asked, very politely, some smokers to kill their cigarettes. They either grumblingly did so, went to find another spot where they could continue undisturbed or lashed out at me. Upon hearing my request that he tell off the smokers, one security guard dismissed me by saying that the smokers never minded him and that "it's no longer our problem".

The directors of the hospital should from now on make this problem theirs. What's the point of promoting Persahabatan Hospital as a top-notch center for lung disease treatment while exposing patients to more poison? Most people in the place already face enough difficulties (physical, mental and even financial) without having to breathe polluted air.

SANTI W.E. SOEKANTO

Jakarta