Together with president Maithripala Sirisena, he will present the cabinet paper, the minister told a function in Colombo to handover appointments of 1,034 interns to rural hospitals.

The aim is to further discourage smoking, a main contributor to non-communicable diseases, said Senaratne.

The state earns Rs. 187 billion of revenue from tobacco and alcohol taxes, but Rs. 200 billion is needed to treat those suffering from ailments due to tobacco and alcohol use, he said.

The government will take steps to completely stop the cultivation of tobacco locally by 2020 and will introduce a cigarette packet which mentions the brand only, he added.