Two children poison themselves with drugs in Causeni, one dies

A boy aged two was rushed to the Causeni District Hospital in a serious condition after he swallowed a pill for hypertension. This is the second case of drug poisoning in Causeni in the last three days. On March 10, a girl died after her grandmother gave her a dose of aspirin for adults. Vice director of the Causeni District Hospital Vasile Godoroja has told Info-Prim Neo that the poisonings were the result of the grownups’ inattention. The two-year-old boy was hospitalized in the morning of March 12. He felt sick after he swallowed a pill with chlopheline that is used for treating arterial hypertension in adults. The grandmother, who was taking care of the child, admitted that she forgot the pills on the table. Timofei Bucuci, head of the Causeni District Hospital’s Intensive Care Section, said that the child underwent gastric lavage and is now in a grave, but stable state. If he had been taken to the hospital later or if he had taken a higher dose, he could have suffered hypotony or could have developed serious kidney, liver or brain complications. According to the doctor, this drug can also cause cardiac arrest. The child will remain in the hospital for at least a week, under the supervision of doctors. Three days ago, the three-year-old girl to whom her grandmother gave aspirin to drink couldn’t be saved. The child was rushed to the same hospital in Causeni with fever, cough and acute pneumonia. She went into a cerebral coma in several hours and was transported to the Mother and Child Center in Chisinau. The institution’s vice director Grigore Covalciuc said the doctors struggled to save the girl for 15 hours, but were unable to. About 300 children were admitted to the Mother and Child Center with drug poisoning last year. Grigore Covalciuc said that in order to avoid such cases, the children should be under permanent supervision. The adults must realize the risks and not leave the pills on the table or on another place accessible to children. They should also see a doctor when the children are sick and not give them drugs that are not indicated for them or in higher doses. According to a study made within the Moldovan-Swiss project “Regionalization of the pediatric emergency and intensive care services” (REPEMOL), only 24.5% of the parents or persons looking after children are aware of the risks posed by noxious substances.