As the law making the use of child passenger seats mandatory is expected to be introduced soon, public has been urged to be prepared for the new legislation.
Hamad Injury Prevention Program (HIPP), the community outreach arm of Hamad Medical Corporation’s Trauma Surgery Section, has recommended the public to ramp up for the new law.
“The country is going to put the child car seat law soon and it is important to make the community prepare for it,” said Dr Rafael Consunji, Director of HIPP speaking to media while reminding the importance of road safety during the beginning of a new academic year.
“All children must be properly restrained in the rear seat. They must be in a car seat that is appropriate for their age and size and properly restrained, including when travelling on a school bus (if available),” said Dr Consunji.
The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in March this year had unveiled a new initiative ‘Ghalai’ aimed at creating awareness about the importance of using child passenger seats among parents, especially new mothers.
The initiative is said to be the first step towards introducing a law making the use of child passenger seats compulsory. There are plans to make seat belts compulsory for passengers in the rear seat as well.
The first ‘Ghalai’ station is situated at the at Women’s Wellness and Research Centre (WWRC). “We are working with ‘Ghalai’ Qatar National Child Passenger Safety Program to create more awareness,” said Dr Consunji.
“We are all working together to make the community ready for the new law.We at HIPP are preparing to release a study on wide variety of child passenger car seats available in Qatar. We did a rapid market survey. The market is ready, technicians of child passenger car seats are ready, hopefully the law enforcement agencies are also ready to introduce the new law,” he added.
‘Ghalai’ initiative is a collaboration between several governmental and private institutions including MoPH, Ministry of Interior, HMC, ConocoPhillips and Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co.
