Health ministry seeks action on complaint against babyfood makers

NEW DELHI: The union health ministry has written to the women and child development ministry seeking “immediate necessary action” on a complaint about the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) and an association of obstetricians and gynaecologists organizing webinars sponsored by infant food manufacturing companies Abbott and Danone in violation of the law.
Sponsorship of any health workers by such manufacturers is a violation of the Infant Milk Substitute (IMS) Act. According to the provisions of the Act, no producer, supplier or distributor of IMS “shall offer or give any contribution or pecuniary benefit to a health worker or any health workers’ association, including funding of seminar, meeting, conferences, educational course, contest, fellowship, research work or sponsorship”.
The Breast Feeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), the organization notified by the ministry of women and child development to monitor compliance of the Act, complained to the health ministry about webinars organised by the IAP and the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) with sponsorship from Abbott and Danone in the last four months. In a letter to the health secretary on August 14, BPNI coordinator Dr Arun Gupta provided evidence of the sponsored webinars and sought action against the companies violating the law.
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to the women and child development (WCD) secretary on August 18 pointing out the relevant provisions of the act and asking for the issue to be examined and instructions to be issued for immediate action. The implementation of the IMS Act is under the purview of the WCD ministry. The child health section of the health ministry has also sent copies of Bhushan’s letter to the IAP and FOGSI.
“Just a few weeks back, in our managing committee we have decided that we will not take any sponsorship from manufacturers of infant milk substitutes or infant food. I will have to check if the webinar on June 18 on ‘Nutrition for first 1000 days’ sponsored by Danone, which is mentioned in the complaint, actually took place or not,” FOGSI president Dr Alpesh Gandhi told TOI.
“We have received the health ministry’s letter. IAP is very sensitive about IMS products and we are staunch supporters of breastfeeding. The webinars were sponsored by the vaccine division of Abbott called Abbott India. It’s a totally separate company. We have been taking sponsorship from them for the last four years and have not received any complaints. However, if the government feels it is a problem, we are ready to stop it. We will be submitting an explanation to the government and we are going to have a meeting of office bearers on the issue. We will also be seeking legal advice,” said IAP president Dr Bakul Parekh.