Child specialists from Sindh have registered their serious concern about unwarranted delay in adoption of Protection of Child Health and Nutrition Ordinance (PCHNO) by the Sindh Assembly. Former head of paediatrics department of Civil Hospital, Karachi Prof Dur-e-Sameen Akram, while talking to APP on Monday said the ordinance adopted by the national assembly in 2002 and duly reviewed in 2009 had to be adopted by all provincial assemblies after the 18th amendment was added to the Constitution. “Unfortunately Sindh and Balochistan have yet to adopt this essential requirement as a law,” she said. A senior paediatrician said on the occasion that Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had immediately implemented the law after devolution of health and other social sectors to the provinces. Meanwhile, Dr Naveed Bhutto said that the law was aimed at protection of child health and nutrition and would also pave the way for much needed implementation of code of infant formulae marketing practices. The two child specialists said that commitment at every level for promotion of breast feeding was very important in this regard.
