'Reporting child abuse should be made mandatory'

With a view to educating parents and spread awareness regarding child abuse, child specialists across the country are formulating a methodology to make it mandatory to report all such cases through a multi-agent network of doctors and social workers.

To extend help to such children through family doctors, the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) has published a manual explaining symptoms of child abuse.

"Unlike the United Kingdom, it is not mandatory in India for the paediatricians to report such cases. Hence, we are trying to work out a methodology to report child abuse cases. This would be made easier with the manual of IAP," the doctors said at a conference held at Lokmanya Tilak hospital.

This manual will be used for training purposes in various parts of the country to educate social workers and doctors for the cause, Dr Anjana Thadani, National Faculty, Child Rights and Protection Programme (CRPP) said.

The western zone conference was attended by doctors from Gujarat and Goa.

"We train doctors who in turn train other doctors in their area," Thadani added.

In the United Kingdom, paediatricians and social workers work together in a multi-agency mode with a strong networking whereas in India we are just trying to make the paediatricians aware of the child abuse problems first, and then how to protect these children from such abuses, she said.

"We had a workshop in Bangalore recently and the next one will be held in Chandigarh," she added.