Kathmandu, Sept. 17: The government has proposed expanding facilities related to safe motherhood aimed at ensuring greater participation of both mother and father in parenting and family care.
To this end, the government has proposed extending both the maternity and paternity leave in the ‘Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, 2018 Amendment Bill’, said Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Sobita Gautam.
Under the existing Act, mothers are entitled to 98 days of paid leave, while 15 days of paid leave for fathers. The proposed amendment would increase maternity leave for six months, while paternity leave would be increased to 42 days.
The new legislation seeks to give parents sufficient time to care for their newborn and family during the special period of motherhood and fatherhood, which occurs only once or twice in a person’s life.
Minister Gautam said that in today’s busy world, increasing workloads and changing lifestyles mean that most families are limiting themselves to one or two children.
“Motherhood and fatherhood are special periods that come only once or twice in a person’s life, and it is also the responsibility of the state to ensure that parents have sufficient time for their newborns and family.” Said Gautam.
Therefore, the Bill proposes at least six months of paid maternity leave for mothers and up to 42 days of paid parental care leave for fathers. “We are now preparing to take it through the Cabinet and then to Parliament,” she added.
“This is an important policy change in the context of safe motherhood and parenthood,” she said. “Giving birth is a natural process associated with the mother, but raising a child is not solely the mother’s responsibility. Parenting is a shared responsibility.”
The proposed Bill seeks to amend Section 13 of the existing Act. Subsection 1 of Section 13 of the proposed Bill states, “Notwithstanding anything contained in the prevailing law, women working in government, non-governmental or private organisations shall have the right to at least six months of paid maternity leave before or after childbirth.”
According to the secretariat of Minister for Health and Food Security Nisha Mehta, the amendment is being pursued with the aim of changing the perception that motherhood is solely a woman’s responsibility and ensuring fathers’ participation in parenthood.
The proposed amendment aims to create an environment in which parents can devote sufficient time to their newborn and family during the special period of motherhood and fatherhood, the Minister’s Secretariat added.
The ministry said the amendment process has been initiated to make the legal provisions relating to safe motherhood more relevant to the times, taking into account changing family structures, lifestyles, and the health needs of mothers and new-borns.
Along with the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, the Ministry of Health and Food Security is amending four more laws related to the health sector.
The proposed amendments also include provisions requiring health facilities providing maternity services to have skilled health workers or trained birth attendants, ensuring respectful maternity care, and establishing legal measures to prevent physical or psychological violence against pregnant and postpartum women.
Drafts prepared for this purpose have been sent to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs for the legal process.
TRN Online
