Padeiatricans’ summit sponsored by infant formula maker in violation of law

The law prohibits baby food manufacturers from funding or sponsoring conferences and meetings of doctors. Yet, Abbott Nutrition, an infant formula manufacturing company, is sponsoring a ‘national paediatrics summit’ in a five-star hotel in Dehradun on March 8 and 9.
In 2020, the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), the largest association of paediatricians in India, had admitted taking funding from Abbott India Ltd for its conferences claiming that the pharmaceutical division was a different company from Abbott Nutrition, though the multinational, Abbott Laboratories, had clarified that Abbott Nutrition was its subsidiary. The union health ministry too flagged it as a violation of the Infant Milk Substitutes (IMS) Act and sought explanation from the IAP. However, beyond the show cause notice, no action had been taken against either Abbott India Ltd or IAP for violating the Act.
Section 9(2) of IMS Act states that no producer, supplier, distributor or seller of infant milk substitutes or feeding bottles or infant foods shall offer or give, directly or indirectly, “contribution or pecuniary benefit to a health worker or any association of health workers, including funding of seminar, meeting, conferences, educational course, contest, fellowship, research work or sponsorship.” Violation of the IMS Act being a criminal offence, the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI), which is gazetted as an organisation to monitor compliance of the Act, has filed a police complaint with the office of the Uttarakhand Director General of Police and alerted the health ministry.
In response to TOI’s query, Abbott India stated: “No information regarding infant milk substitute products will be presented and the National Pediatric Summit is fully compliant with the IMS Act. This summit is organized to educate about pediatric nutrition and provides valuable scientific knowledge to healthcare professionals and the scientific community, helping them meet the evolving needs of children in India.”
“Abbott is very well aware that it is a violation because the law is absolutely clear that they cannot fund or sponsor any conference of health workers, including doctors. The content of the conference is immaterial. They have been emboldened by the government’s inaction on earlier violations. It is going to get worse if the government does not crackdown on this. Paediatricians’ meetings get so much funding from pharma and vaccine companies and yet they try to find excuses to take money from infant formula companies. It’s a shame that they collude with the companies to break the law of the land,” said Dr Arun Gupta of BPNI.
IAP president Dr Vasant Khalatkar did not respond to TOI’s queries. If/when he does, the story will be updated online.