NHS Fife is launching a pilot scheme to encourage smokers to quit the habit by promising them incentives including helicopter tours.
Smokers who have given up cigarettes for three months will be eligible for a prize draw in which they can win trips on board helicopters, iPods, toiletries and cinema vouchers.
An NHS Fife spokesman said: “Tobacco remains the major preventable cause of ill health and premature death in Scotland. Like any pilot scheme, we will evaluate its success in detail.”
But Mary Scanlon, Scottish Conservatives health spokeswoman, questioned the idea of the scheme and said they would only send wrong messages since such rewards have no relation to personal health.
Ms Mary Scanlon said: “Giving people free passes to gyms is an excellent idea, but in the depths of a recession when people are losing their jobs, seeing people being given these sorts of gifts will lead to resentment.”
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