Preventing child injuries during the summer

(Baonghean.vn) -Summer means students are off school and have fun, but it also comes with parents’ concerns about their children’s safety. In fact, the risk of injury to children during the summer is often very high…

In the early days of summer, Nghe An Children's Hospital received quite a lot of cases of child injuries such as drowning, burns, electric shock, traffic accidents, broken arms and legs from running and jumping, cuts and stabs, poisoning, animal bites, etc. Most of the cases of injuries were transferred to the Trauma-Orthopedic Department, which only had 20 beds, but at the time we arrived, there were 45 patients, not to mention the patients who were bandaged and sent home for treatment.

After only 2 days of summer vacation, Vo Tuan Anh, 6 years old in Thanh Lien, Thanh Chuong, had to be hospitalized for a broken arm and crushed bones that required pins and screws. Tuan Anh's grandfather said: Because he was busy playing and running around with his 4-year-old brother, Tuan Anh fell and had to be taken to the Children's Hospital for treatment. Similar to Tuan Anh, Quang Huy, 5 years old in Nghia Dan, is also undergoing long-term treatment for a broken femur.

Doctor Thai Van Binh - Head of the Department of Trauma and Orthopedics (Nghe An Children's Hospital) said: Looking at the reality that the number of child injuries often increases during the summer vacation, it can be seen that a large part of the heartbreaking cases of child injuries often originate from the carelessness and lack of understanding of adults. Among the patients treated at the department, 1/3 of the cases have broken bones due to falling while playing, riding bicycles, playing games, skating... 1/3 of the cases of traumatic brain injury include traffic accidents caused by parents riding motorbikes without wearing helmets and 1/3 of the patients have burns at various levels due to the negligence of adults.

The most recent case is that of a 9-month-old girl in Nghi Xuan (Ha Tinh) who was severely burned by green tea water poured on her. Currently, the burn treatment room is overloaded because there are only 5 beds, so 3-4 children have to share a bed. Almost every day, the trauma department receives 1-2 cases of burn treatment. It is regrettable that some parents lack knowledge in first aid for their children, applying toothpaste, snake fat, and even fish sauce, which can easily lead to wound infection...

Due to the lack of school management, parents are busy with work and cannot keep close watch over their children all day, children are often hyperactive and cannot control their behavior, so the risk of accidents and injuries that often happen to children during the summer is very high. Many children have lost their lives or are disabled for life due to unnecessary reasons. According to statistics from the Department of Child Protection and Care (Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs), in 2012, the whole province had 958 children who suffered from accidents and injuries and 65 children died from accidents and injuries, of which 38 were due to drowning.





Parents need to spend time caring for their children during the summer to prevent accidents and injuries.

For rural children, due to the lack of playgrounds and lack of family supervision because the summer often coincides with the harvest season, there is a high risk of accidents, including drowning due to swimming in rivers, ponds, lakes, and canals. Since the beginning of summer, there have been many cases of children dying from drowning in the province. The most recent case is 12-year-old Tran Trong Nhan in Quynh Lam (Quynh Luu) who was hospitalized on June 5 and is currently receiving oxygen at the intensive care unit of Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital. According to the child's family, not only Nhan but also his younger sister drowned while swimming in a pond, but her injuries were less serious and she was transferred to the emergency room at Quynh Luu District General Hospital...

To prevent child injuries, in recent years, in addition to propaganda work to improve knowledge of child injury prevention for parents, especially in mountainous, remote and isolated areas, functional sectors have deployed the construction of many models such as "child-friendly communes and wards", "safe families", "safe communities for children"; Organize training programs on child injury prevention for collaborators of blocks, hamlets and child protection officers at all levels.

However, due to the difficult socio-economic conditions and characteristics of the province, the large area, large population, unsafe living conditions and environment, accidents and injuries to children are likely to occur. Therefore, the most important thing is that parents must proactively approach child safety programs at home and in the community, especially skills in handling accidents and injuries, timely first aid when children have accidents and injuries, teaching children how to recognize and prevent accidents and injuries, and spending time caring for and managing their children during the summer to ensure their safety. Communes, wards and towns should pay attention to investing in playgrounds and entertainment for children, creating a safe and healthy environment so that children can have a fun and rewarding summer.

Khanh Ly