Held yesterday afternoon at the Family Wellness Club hall in Ipoh, this Programme started off with Consultant Paediatrician Dr.Lim Wee Yoong’s presentation on “Raising Healthy Children” .
He interspersed his Talk with short videos to capture the participants attention.
Dr.Lim Wee Yoong spoke on the many advantages of breast milk over formulas for both babies and mothers.
He also emphasised the need for all children to have at least one hour of physical activity a day.
Further screen time for children, from handphones, iPads, etc. must be limited to no more than an hour per day.
And children below 2 years, must not be watching videos, etc from handphones.
The 2nd Speaker, Advocate and Solicitor Ms.P. Mangaleswary said that our Child Act 2001 came about after Malaysia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and some of our laws for protection of children needed to be reformed and consolidated.
Ms. P. Mangaleswary then highlighted some provisions in the Child Act 2001 for offences of ill-treatment, neglect, abuse and abandonment of children, and also failure to provide supervision by parents, guardians and caregivers of children.
She cited a few cases reported in the Malayan Law Journal to show how courts had decided on the punishment in cases of abuse and neglect.
Ms.P.Mangaleswary however emphasised that most child neglect and abuse cases are unreported in law journals and newspapers.
She had obtained data from the Perak Social Welfare Department (Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Negeri Perak) which showed a total of 6,770 child neglect and abuse cases nationwide last year. Perak had 473 cases during the same time.
She added that to reduce child abuse and neglect cases, more awareness of the Child Act 2001 and the heavy punishments of imprisonment and fines therein must be shared with communities.
After the Programme, one of the participants, Mr.Yam Chee Keong, the Secretary of the Life-Saving Society of Malaysia, shared about how drowning incidents in swimming pools can be avoided if the laws on the management of swimming pools were implemented and enforced.
Before leaving, participants said the Talks by Dr. Lim Wee Yoong and Ms.P. Mangaleswary were very informative.
And they thanked the Family Wellness Club for the ‘wonderful and insightful’ Programme.
