The Health Bureau (SSM) announced on Saturday the development of 68 breastfeeding rooms by 15 government services under the supervision of the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture.
The 68 new breastfeeding rooms will be open within the year. SSM director Lei Chin Ion announced the initiative at a Saturday ceremony to promote breastfeeding, as part of “World Breastfeeding Week 2016.”
The Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, addressed the issue at the Legislative Assembly (AL) on July 21 when responding to questions by several lawmakers. Tam stated the goal to set up 68 breastfeeding rooms by the end of 2016, adding that 42 of them are already in operation (11 on SSM premises and eight in day nurseries).
Tam said that out of the 68 breastfeeding rooms, eight would be exclusively for civil servants’ use. SSM added that measures will be enforced to regulate the mandatory opening of breastfeeding rooms across all services and public entities.
The government expects such measures to serve as encouragement and an example to the private and non-governmental sector, creating a “more favorable environment for lactating mothers.”
SSM’s website and mobile app now provides relevant information on breastfeeding, as well as guidelines on the creation and management of breastfeeding rooms, among other topics.
At the ceremony, the president of the Macau Breastfeeding Association noted that “the active promotion of the Health Bureau in supporting breastfeeding has already allowed a steady increase in the breastfeeding rate.”
She added that the disclosure of the guidelines for the equipment and management of breastfeeding rooms will enable more public services to improve their current rooms and encourage more private companies to follow suit.
According to SSM statistics, from the 5,700 babies born in Macau in 2015, 5100 (approximately 88 percent) were breastfed and more than 630 were exclusively fed with the same milk for at least the first four months of life.
At the AL presentation, lawmaker Wong Kit Cheng criticized the government for having promoted and opened breastfeeding rooms long before they had approved and released the guidelines.
The legislator also criticized the fact that the “experience sharing sessions” planned and enforced by the government take place during normal working hours, which prevents participation in these sessions.
The legislator also urged the Labor Affairs Bureau to fix a breastfeeding period for mothers in the general law. RM
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