Stunting Rate Is Still High, Head Of PDIP In Baleg DPR Values The MCH Bill As One Solution

Member of Commission I DPR RI Sturman Panjaitan/ANTARA

JAKARTA - Head of the PDIP Fraction Group (Kapoksi) at the Legislative Body (Baleg) of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Major General TNI (Ret.) Sturman Panjaitan said that the Draft Law on Maternal and Child Welfare (RUU KIA) is very urgent to protect mothers and children.

"Especially considering the very high number of stunting cases in Indonesia at this time, as released by the Indonesian Toddler Nutrition Status Survey (SSGBI) in 2021, which said the prevalence of stunting in Indonesia was still at 24.4 percent or 5.33 million children under five," Sturman said at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Thursday, June 23.

He emphasized that the PDIP faction will continue to fight for the MCH Bill to be passed into law to provide welfare for mothers and children.

"Indeed, the process that the MCH Bill must go through is still very long, but the PDIP faction is committed to continuing to fight for this bill to be passed into law," he said.

The existence of the MCH Bill has long been proposed by other factions and the PDIP Faction sees the bill as very important to reduce stunting in Indonesia. Therefore, according to Sturman, the reason why the MCH Bill has become a necessity for the state and society in Indonesia.

However, he ensured that in the process of formulating the bill, the DPR would fight for it not to conflict with other laws, such as Law Number 13 of 2003 concerning Manpower.

"We certainly fight so that the MCH Bill does not conflict with existing laws, for example the Manpower Act. Second, don't burden the government, the process is still long so that this can be accepted by all parties, including entrepreneurs and the community," he said.

Previously, the Legislative Council of the Republic of Indonesia decided to bring the draft MCH Bill into a DPR initiative bill. The draft regulates the extension of the leave period for mothers who give birth to rest periods for mothers who miscarry.

Maternity leave in the draft of the MCH Bill is proposed for at least 6 months, which is regulated in Article 4 Paragraph (2) letter a, namely "besides the rights as referred to in paragraph (1), every working mother has the right to: a. get at least 6 (six) months maternity leave.

In addition, the draft MCH Bill also regulates leave for husbands who accompany their wives to give birth as stated in Article 6, namely (1) To ensure the fulfillment of maternal rights as referred to in Article 4 paragraph (1) letter c, husbands and/or families are obliged to accompany.

(2) The husband as referred to in paragraph (1) is entitled to the right to accompanying leave:

a. give birth a maximum of 40 (forty) days; or

b. miscarriage within 7 (seven) days.