A boy aged three from the municipality of Chisinau was rushed to the reanimatology section of the Mother and Child Institute after he swallowed several pills prescribed to his mother. He found the pills on the kitchen table. The child was admitted to the hospital in a state of pre-coma, the ambulance being called when the child felt sick. If the parents had sought help later or had resorted to self-medication, the child could have went into a serious coma, said the head of the Institute’s somatic reanimatology section Ana Oglinda.
The doctor has told IPN that the child’s mother is receiving neurological treatment and is taking Clonazepam, which is a powerful anticonvulsant. After taking the pills, the woman forgot them on the table and the child, who was left unsupervised for a while, took some of them and swallowed them. The boy will remain in the hospital for treatment and supervision for several days.
Last year, a girl aged four died of liver failure caused by a drug overdose. To prevent such cases, the parents must keep the drugs in places that are inaccessible to children or locked places. The pills, being of different colors, look attractive to children who can ingest them thinking that these are candies. Their life is thus in danger. They recover from drug poisoning with difficulty and can even die.
In cases of drug poisoning and in other cases of poisoning, the parents must react promptly and call an ambulance. 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.
