A child aged ten months from Leova was rushed to the hospital in a serious condition after a battery that he swallowed caused severe esophageal perforation. Now the child is fed by a nasal-gastric probe and will be fed so during at least a month. His esophagus can thus become narrower and he will have to be operated.

Head of the Pediatric Surgery Division of the Mother and Child Institute Eva Gudumac has told IPN the fact that the parents leave their children unsupervised is alarming. In the given case, the boy was left in the care of his elder brother aged five. The parents were in the neighboring room. The ingested battery was extracted, but it caused the necrosis of the child’s esophageal tissue. Therefore, he cannot eat and is fed by probe.

“The parents must be very attentive to such objects, which are very dangerous. The batteries contain acid that perforates tissue,” said the doctor. Eva Gudumac warned the parents that all the small objects such as coins, caps, pieces of apple or seeds are very dangerous for small children. Some of the children who swallow such objects never recover fully despite difficult surgery and long treatment periods. Some cases can result in death.

In order to prevent such cases, the parents must hide the small objects in places that are not within children’s reach. According to the National Health Management Center, 2,427 Moldovan children younger than five suffered injuries at home last year. Fifty-one of them died.

The children of an early age must be immediately taken to the hospital. In other cases, the parents can consult the specialist of the TOXAPEL service on 022.555.220. This service provides telephonic assistance to parents and medical personnel, teaching them how to give first aid in case of child poisoning.

More information about how to protect the child is available on www.parinti.md and can be also found out by following the information campaigns centering on the prevention of accidents involving children carried out within the REPEMOL (Regionalization of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Service in Moldova) Project that is financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and implemented by the Foundation of the Center for Health Policies and Services.