A boy aged one year and six months suffered a femur fracture when he was hit by a horse at their home in Soldanesti district. He was immediately transported to Chisinau by the Aviasan service.

Contacted by IPN, the head of the Pediatric Surgery Section of the Mother and Child Center Eva Gudumac said the incident happened when the child was playing in the yard. The horse was nearby and the child’s father was also not far, working. The child approached the animal and was struck. The boy was discharged from the hospital several days later, but remains with the leg in plaster. He is now out of danger.

The doctor urged the parents not to leave the children without supervision because they are curious and come close to everything they see. “The state provides three years of leave to parents so that they bring up healthy children,” said Eva Gudumac, adding that a 12-year-old boy died after he was bitten by a horse and had his backbone broken.

According to a guide on the methods of preventing home accidents involving children, produced within the Moldovan-Swiss project “Regionalization of the Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Services in Moldova” (REPEMOL), the children must be never left alone near domestic animals or pets and must be taught to stay away from animals, especially when they eat, as they can attack them. The yard for animals must be separated from the area where the children play.