Mauritius continues to build on its hotel industry. The hotel school is supplying new graduates in hotel management, pastry and cookery. This is great as far as creative menu is concerned. The education seems to have focused only on provision of food and not on provision of decent environment where the food should be consumed. What kind of environment makes a palatable atmosphere? Should there be better control where consumers can eat out in a healthy setting? Should we follow the insightful example of Bangladesh and ban smoking in public?

The restaurants in Mauritius are gaining momentum and it is a pleasure to sample some of the cuisine. Typical Mauritian food, Chinese, Indian and other delicacies are now in abundance. However, restaurateurs have overlooked the fact that Mauritius has smokers and non-smokers. There seems to be hardly any consideration either for non-smokers? sensitivities or for public health. Any smoker can light up a cigarette next to you and spoil your meal and night out with your family. This is not the fault of the consumers but the restaurant owners. They should show a greater awareness of what is happening around the worl. Smoking is banned in public places because the wealth of evidence confirms that smoking and passive smoking are both bad for our health. They should shoulder greater responsibility in managing the environment and invest some of their lucrative profits in a healthier environment. At the moment, restaurants are proceeding blindly zooming in on profits and not improving environment.

Need for health policy

Public health does not only mean the kitchen has to be clean and tidy but the environment outside the kitchen has to be equally hygienic. Public hygiene has a totally different meaning in this century. The air that we breathe has to be hygienic, free from pollution and nicotine irritants. The smell of tobacco to non-smokers is disgustingly horrible, unappetising and sickening. To be engulfed in clouds of smoke from a mindless smoker in a restaurant is the ultimate spoiler of a family?s good night out. Therefore, staff at the restaurant has to be educated in healthy environment management. The hotel school of Mauritius must examine its curriculum again and prepare its graduates in this very important aspect of hostelry.

The air that we breathe has to be hygienic, free from pollution and nicotine irritants. The smell of tobacco to non-smokers is disgustingly horrible, unappetising and sickening. To be engulfed in clouds of smoke from a mindless smoker in a restaurant is the ultimate spoiler of a family?s good night out.

The ministry of Health and Quality of Life must be held accountable for this major public health neglect. Our ministry appears to be sluggish in learning from other countries and again shows its dormant posture in public health management. The MOH must learn to be proactive and be more concerned with preventative measures. It is just not good enough to provide hospital care for thousands of non-smokers suffering from chronic respiratory diseases when MOH could be preventing them from catching these nasty ailments in the first place. This is mismanagement and highlights the absence of a cohesive and progressive health policy at the MOH. Furthermore, the Ministry should be ashamed to project itself as a body responsible for ?Quality of Life? because it is just not living up to its name. Are the sanitary inspectors doing their jobs? Have they been guided to insist on a properly managed non-smoking zone? Does the MOH have a set of criteria what a restaurant should be like? If not, why not? Is health, ventilation, pollution control, seating space per customer, temperature control, water stagnation in tanks breeding Legionnaire diseases and cleanliness levels stated criteria for restaurants? If they are not, then it is high time to bring a stringent new set of criteria based on the above.

Smoking damages our health. It is regrettable that the MOH has not taken the lead in revolutionising public places. They should be ?no smoking zones? and restaurants, hotels and other public houses should be top priority. Where is the campaign to educate owners and users of restaurants? Where are the slogans to remind people that by smoking they not only damage their health but also that of the innocent, civilised non-smoker? There should be greater urgency demonstrated by the MOH to mobilise its health inspectors to secure that no smoking zones are created in restaurants.

Pungent smell of tobacco

My recent visit to a popular Chinese restaurant at Quatre Bornes has been an eye-opener. While enjoying a superb meal with my wife, we were rudely interrupted by three gentlemen who sat at the next table close to us. The tables were so close that we were inches away from them. Without any concern for us, they pulled their stinking cigarettes and lit up. In their efforts to publicly demonstrate they were stressed businessmen in need of some tension relief, they puffed out long streams of smoke up in the air with such vigour. Being non-smokers, we were stung by the pungent smell of tobacco, coating our nostrils and taste buds. We could no longer enjoy our meals and my polite request to the party to stop smoking was met with courteous compliance. However, what followed next was the revelation. The waiter said that they did not have a smoker?s section in the restaurant. Thus, he moved the offenders two tables away from us and they lit up again. The waiter looked at us as if to suggest that hopefully now we should be happy. Well, two tables away is hardly any distance and the smoke bellowed again. My curious nature prompted me to ask why there is no smoker?s corner at such a popular and well-known restaurant.

?Well, well, well?.? replied the smiling waiter. ?You see this idea has been tried here but it did not work? he whispered gently. ?Really, but why?? I wondered. The waiter explained: ?This restaurant is popular with high officials in private companies and the government. When they come here, they do not comply. It is difficult to ask them to go to the smoker?s corner.? Oh dear! How unfortunate the so-called high officials do not seem to have any concern for their own health and that of the poor little men. Why should we, the modest diminutive people, the paupers, the women, the children, the handicapped, the sick suffer because of these windy high officials? Why should our health suffer while they gulp nicotine-laden drinks and food? Why should we be denied clean air and the opportunity to enjoy our meals because of high officials? This shows the need for better public education. Health is for all. High officials should be made to tow the lines. Restaurants which allow high officials to get away with poisoning other decent customers will lose their client base and profits if they bow to the whim of the ?big-wig?.

This is the modern world; customers are more informed than ever before. They will vote with their feet if they are denied the opportunity to enjoy a pleasant evening with their loved ones. Restaurant owners and managers have to be braver and uphold good hygienic practices. It is morally, ethically, socially and nutritionally indefensible to duck this important issue. We need greater leadership from the MOH and its inspectors to support the restaurants in upholding no-smoking in public houses. Big-wig or not, at the end of the day it is our health and happiness that should be the priority. Those high officials are only high in ignorance. Let us not be subdued by them. Come on MOH, time to wake up!

<B>Dr Taleb Durgahee</B> [email protected]