KUALA LUMPUR: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will be working with pharmacies next to reach their target group of women and teenagers and raise awareness on the issue of baby dumping.
Deputy Minister Hannah Yeoh (pix) said they are looking to engage with pharmacies because a lot of people go to there to buy pregnancy kits.
“When it comes to teenage pregnancy, some young teens will purchase pregnancy kits because they are scared they might get pregnant, so it would be good to put up a poster to alert them about our Talian Kasih 15999,“ she said at a press conference after officiating the National Gynae-Oncology conference 2019.
She said the ministry is also looking to working with sanitary pad companies to pass on the message so that the 15999 hotline is what people will remember when they need help.
“The most important thing when we do government programmes is to reach out to our target group as much as possible so that they can know who to call if they are in trouble,“ she said.
On another matter, she said that the ministry have also started placing counsellors at low cost flats (PPR) nationwide, with 10 such centres operating all around the country.
“We launched the first one at PPR Rejang at Setiawangsa on Sept 14. Basically, people can just walk in to the PPR where we have placed a counsellor,“
“Our aim is to normalise counselling so that people can seek help and not look for counsellor only when they are in need of it,“ she said.
On child abuse by nannies and babysitters, Yeoh said the ministry is trying to find a resolution to this problem. She said one of it will involve putting up infographics at clinics informing parents and to advise them how to choose a babysitter.
“We are also working with the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) to introduce parenting courses for workers,“ she said.
She added that people must care for the children at all cost, and urge those who detected children with signs of abuse to contact Talian Kasih at 15999.
