PESHAWAR: The law department has given approval to draft of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Protection of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition (amended) act 2013, which will be sent to the cabinet for approval before being tabled before the provincial assembly to become a law.

The draft law had been sent to the law department for vetting five months ago that was approved and returned to the health department for necessary action to make into a law. The province has already in place an ordinance promulgated by former president Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf in 2002.

“It seeks to check production and marketing of formula baby milk by placing ban on illegal promotional tactics by the influential multinational companies,” according to officials. It had become obligatory upon the provinces to have their own law after the devolution of power law passed by the parliament in 2010.

The former Awami National Party-led government had started work on the law and had indicated to make a comprehensive law that covered all food-related matters but that couldn’t see light of the day owing to reservations of Pakistan Pediatrics Association. The latter wanted to incorporate some clauses into the new law.

All the four provinces have planned to adopt their own law, mostly copying the 2002 ordinance with slight amendments. Sindh had taken lead to adopt the law. It is currently being debated in the Balochistan Assembly.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s proposed law aims to make the manufacturers of formula milk bound to seek permission for marketing and sale of their products and award penalties to health workers for prescribing bottled or packaged milk and its products to the people.

Officials said that the companies who have often been accused of presenting baby milk as substitute of breast milk through their aggressive marketing tactics due to which the gullible parents opted to spend huge money on those products. The law calls for campaign to spread the message that infants should be breastfed for two years because it will raise their immunity against childhood diseases.

A five-member Infant Feeding Board will be set up, which will include two members of the provincial assembly and as many technical experts on nutrition and infant development to be nominated by the government and one representative of the manufacturers of formula milk. The board will be tasked to recommend action against those violating the law.The board will have services of inspectors who will carry out field visits and also recommend investigation against health professionals, distributors and manufacturers for violation of the law. It also prohibits manufacturers from giving gifts to the doctors in return for prescribing their products to the patients.

Violators will face two years imprisonment or Rs50,000 penalty or both.

The manufacturers will not be able to display posters, banners and print pictorial images and graphics that tend to discourage breastfeeding. The government will be responsible to make it part of the job description of the health workers to effectively promote breastfeeding.

Officials said the doctors violating the law will also face action as the government will send complaints to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. The people, organisations, manufacturers and dealers will be allowed to file appeal in the high court against their sentence within 30 days.