The Law on Hygiene, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion should not be promulgated because in its present form it mostly gives instructions for implementation but fails to define wrongdoers and law abiders.
NA member for Vientiane Dr Sisaliew Savengsuksa addressed the National Assembly on Friday concerning the amended law.
“I sincerely want to present my point of view that this law differs from others because it gives instructions rather than being a law,” he said.
Dr Sisaliew explained that a law should identify which behaviours or activities are legal or illegal and define the measures to be taken against wrongdoers. He cited the Tax Law by way of example, saying that a person who did not pay taxes would be fined or otherwise punished.
He said the hygiene law was unclear because it lacked decisive terminology to explain who could be viewed as right and who would be considered a violator.
Article No. 11 of the amended law states that personal hygiene refers to keeping physically and mentally healthy to avoid sickness or disease so that one can live a normal social life. All persons are required to pay attention to their cleanliness, eating, drinking, discharge of excrement, dressing, sleeping, work and rest, including sexual intercourse, in accordance with the principles of basic hygiene.
Concerning the article, Dr Sisaliew asked whether those who failed to follow these principles would be fined or otherwise penalised.
He said that articles 12 to 26 were similar in structure and did not define methods of enforcement, but were merely recommendations.
“The law as it is makes it impossible to comply with. If articles 11 to 26 are seen as rules, a number of people will be accused,” he said.
The Law on Hygiene, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion was originally enacted 10 years ago. It has 8 chapters containing 50 articles and was introduced for debate during the second ordinary session of the National Assembly on Friday, while one new chapter and 10 articles were includ ed in the draft amendment.
The Ministry of Health, which is the core body involved in drafting the amendment, hopes the National Assembly will adopt it as an important tool to promote hygiene, disease prevention and public health.
Dr Sisaliew said the law should mention the rights of the related authority - the Department of Hygiene and Disease Prevention – in relation to food inspection, for example, as an urgent public requirement.
The law should be properly written in order to be effective, he said. In its present state it could only be used as an academic text to educate people on the matter.
