| "We are going to move forward, but the matter is now in Supreme Court," he said at the Social Editors' Conference today. |
| Once a ruling was passed, the ministry would take consequent action, he said, adding "my ministry's initiative is in accordance with the anti-tobacco Act." |
| The government had already issued a draft notification to prohibit use of tobacco and alcohol in food items and when enforced in a couple of months, it would prohibit sale of "tobacco-laced gutka". |
| The minister also emphasised the need for registering all hospitals in the country and regulating them. |
| Asked where the money from the health cess would go, Ramadoss replied that it would go into the National Rural Health Mission. |
| However, the proposal was in discussion stage at present, he added. |
| There was an assurance handed out that the hike in user charges at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences would not affect the poor and the government might reconsider "some of the issues" if need arose. |
| "Poor patients and those living below the poverty line will be given free treatment," he stated. The government is in the process of setting up six AIIMS-like institutions in under-served areas of the country, while 11 institutions would be upgraded. |
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