Stop the political grandstanding

WOW, the health minister must have had an Einstein moment to discover that smoking is bad for health.
We do not need such geniuses to tell the bulk of the people what we already know.
Is this another assault on a personal freedom which seems to me to be very convenient and politically expedient?
So the minister wants to crack down on smoking.
Why?
If Jamie Maxtone-Graham is really concerned as a health minister, then he should do something about alcohol and its deleterious effects on everything in PNG.
So-called experts claim that smoking is a leading cause of death each year with some 20,000 people dying as a result.
That’s pure nonsense!
What about alcohol-related deaths from car accidents, violent and deadly assaults, murder, domestic violence and so forth not to mention the cost to law enforcement, health and allied services?
Perhaps it would be better if Maxtone-Graham were to spend his time and effort on dealing with the wreck that his department has become like preventing valuable life-saving drugs from going missing and ending up on the black market, the sorry state of hospital equipment and workplaces that health workers have to deal with.
Perhaps this was one of the reasons why the former prime minister had to go to Singapore for treatment.
My dad died like a Papua New Guinean in a public hospital and the only reason I bring this up is that if someone like Maxtone-Graham had focused on fixing public health and hospitals in this country rather that opportunistic grand standing, my pop would still be alive.        

Roland Boden
Via email