Manama: A law to licence and monitor crèches, baby care facilities and nurseries in Qatar could soon be promulgated after the draft of the legislation was by the government.
The draft, prepared by the Ministry of Social Affairs in coordination with the Supreme Council of Family Affairs, stipulates that the ministry will be in charge of the facilities.
Women inspectors will be given new authority that will enable them to conduct raids to check the compliance of baby care centres with the legislation after it is enforced, Qatari daily The Peninsula reported on Wednesday.
Violators could face penalties up to QR50,000 (Dh50,446) or jail terms or both.
All crèches, baby care centres and nurseries will be classified and will be allowed to admit children only up four years of age. All such centres will be required to have a nurse in their permanent employ.
Under the new rules, they must also sign contracts with a doctor who would visit them at regular intervals to check the mental and physical health of children.
The job contract of the nurse and service agreement with the doctor must be endorsed by the Supreme Council of Family Affairs.
However, Mohamad Ghanim Al Mohannadi, the head of legal section at the Social Affairs Ministry, said they do not have any authority to fix the fee of baby care facilities.
The centres need to appoint nannies and their qualifications will be decided by the ministry, he said.
Qatar has 75 baby care facilities, crèches and nurseries, but they are not evenly distributed.
"There is, therefore, the need to make sure that each locality has access to such facilities," Al Mohannadi said.
