MOH mulls law against parents taking children to public places

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PUTRAJAYA: Parents and guardians who insist on bringing their young children to public places without valid reasons are likely to face legal action, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Security Council (MKN) will hold a discussion today on the implementation of enforcement against those stubborn parents.

Currently, MOH and MKN are still using soft approach by advising parents before taking any action against them.

“We will discuss (with MKN) how we can enforce (action) against parents who insist on taking their young children to public places and hospitals without having prior appointment,” he said at a Covid-19 daily media conference here yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham was responding to a reporter who was asking if the MOH would issue any directives regarding the actions of parents who took their children to public places during the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) period.

He also stressed that the level of compliance to the standard operating procedure (SOP) still needs to be improved despite the number of new positive cases of Covid-19 infection during the two weeks of CMCO being maintained at double digits.

He said SOP-compliance among the people was very important before the implementation of the exit strategy to be considered, otherwise the CMCO could always be extended.

“We are not even discussing the exit strategy at this time, we are just giving the CMCO some leeway. If we obey (SOP) and positive new cases continue to be maintained at two digits, we might consider whether we need an exit strategy,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham also congratulated the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia which celebrated its 50th anniversary yesterday.

“As a UKM graduate I pray that it will continue to produce excellent and competitive graduates with its slogan “Inspiring Futures, Nurturing Possibilities”,” he said. — Bernama