Family doctors and medical assistants from Orhei district are attending a training course centering on the methods of preventing accidents involving children younger than 5 that is run by the Orhei Public Health Center. In the training process, the health professionals discussed methods of communicating with persons looking after children with a view to teaching them child protection practices. The seminars are held based on an order by the Ministry of Health and are supported by the Moldovan-Swiss technical and financial assistance project REPEMOL – Regionalization of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Cares Services in the Republic of Moldova.

Contacted by IPN, chief doctor of the Orhei Public Health Center Vasile Gustiuc said that 132 cases when children aged between 0 and 5 were hurt in accidents were recorded in 2014, while in 2015 the figure rose to 151. “90% of these accidents occurred at home. The children suffered mainly burns, scalding and drug poisoning,” he stated.

According to Vasile Gustiuc, a part of the seminars were staged, but all the persons working in the primary medical assistance sector, namely the family doctors and their assistants, are yet to be trained.

Rafail Sihlearov, head of the Orhei Public Health Center’s Health Promotion and Public Relations Division, said the participants in the training course received guidebooks that they are to distribute to grownups who care for children younger than 5. According to him, the Parents’ Guidebook is a benchmark for parents who want to ensure a danger-free home for their children. This contains information about the risks to which the children are exposed in the home and a wide range of methods of preventing home accidents. When they pass on the guidebooks, the medical staff will discuss prevention methods and measures that must be taken before the arrival of the doctor with parents and grandparents.

According to Rafail Sihlearov, the health professionals have the authority needed to train the persons who look after children aged between 0 and 5. The seminars are intended not only for parents, but also for all those who care for children given that 20-30% of the children are raised by grandparents. Also, according to medical documentation (Form 11/e), the family doctors and their assistants must have a total of six meetings with parents to inform them about child protection. Three meetings must be held before the child turns 1 year.

The Regionalization of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Cares Services in the Republic of Moldova Project is financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and is implemented by the Center for Health Policies and Services Moldova in partnership with the Ministry of Health.