Doctors of the Mother and Child Center are doing their utmost to save a nine-year-old boy who poisoned himself with mushrooms. He is from Calarasi town and was admitted to the hospital in a serious state. Tatiana Pasicovschi, head of the Center’s intensive therapy and toxicology section, has told IPN that the child suffers from renal failure.

The doctor said the boy went to the forest together with his parents and collected mushrooms there. After eating mushrooms prepared at home, the boy felt sick. The parents also ate mushrooms, but are well.

Tatiana Pasicovschi said the mushroom poisonings are very dangerous as they can lead to death. Last year, a child died after eating mushrooms. Children are now weekly hospitalized with mushroom poisoning.

According to the Consumer Protection Agency, the September torrential rain created good conditions for the growth of mushrooms. The Agency’s specialists warn that it is very easy to mix up an edible mushroom with a poisonous one and recommend not eating mushrooms picked up in the forests or from the side of the road.

Tatiana Pasicovschi urged the parents to contact the informational pediatric toxicology service of Moldova TOXAPEL on 22 555-220 to find out how to give first aid to poisoned children before the arrival of the ambulance or before hospitalization.

According to the Health Ministry’s National Health Management Center, 60 children younger than five died last year as a result of poisonings, suffocation, traumas, drownings and road accidents.