It also mandates the printing of Pictorial Health Warnings on tobacco packs to cover more than 70 per cent of the principal display areas of the packaging.

Under the new law, anyone caught lighting up a cigarette in prohibited locations faces prosecution and the payment of a fine, if convicted.

The Bill, which forms part of the enlarged Public Health Bill (PHB), went through the first reading on the floor of Parliament last Friday.

Speaker of the House Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo then referred it to the Select Committee on Health for consideration and recommendation.

The Cancer Ambassador of Ghana, Jeorge Wilson Kingson, who could not hide his joy, told journalists after the passage of the Bill Wednesday that tobacco use was one of the leading preventable causes of death and disability among adults in the world.

Kingson mentioned ammonia, benzene, nicotine, methanol and arsenic as a few of the many deadly chemicals found in cigarettes, adding that 50 of these chemicals were cancer-causing compounds.

He said it was his expectation that the President would assent to the Bill to make it a law soon to enable the Ministry of Health to submit the necessary Legislative Instruments (LIs) to Parliament to ensure the implementation of the law.

He made a passionate appeal to all not to use tobacco and urged those with the habit to drop it once and for all for their own good.

The new PHB seeks to bring together in one piece of legislation enactments on public health to ensure equal opportunity for all in health delivery. Issues contained in the bill include tobacco smoking, food and drug legislation, patient's rights, international public health law, communicable and non-communicable diseases as well as environmental sanitation.

The PHB focuses on keeping people healthy and improving health rather than on treating diseases and disorders of individuals.