19. Duty of medical practitioner and power of medical officer

If a registered medical practitioner including a medical officer, believes on reasonable grounds that a child he is examining or treating is physically or emotionally injured as a result of being ill treated, neglected, abandoned or exposed, he shall immediately notify a protector or police officer.

Any registered medical practitioner who fails to comply with subsection

shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000.

For the purposes of subsection (1), the referral of a child examined by a private medical practitioner to a government medical practitioner on the grounds stated in subsection ( 1), shall be sufficient to satisfy the duty of notification under subsection (1).

If the registered medical practitioner referred to in subsection (1) is a medical officer, he may take the child referred to in that subsection into temporary custody until such time as the temporary custody of the child is assumed by a protector or police officer.

Any conviction under subsection (2) shall for the purposes of section 20