Children are suffering from serious injuries due to falling furniture, TVs striking their heads, fire burns… leading to fatalities. Recently, Children’s Hospital No. 2 in Ho Chi Minh City has received a significant number of such cases. Notably, there are 5-6 children admitted daily due to falls from heights.
One case involved 19-month-old B.T., whose mother was cleaning the house and left a leaking bottle of alcohol near the gas stove, forgetting to put it away. The alcohol spilled towards the stove, and when the mother turned on the gas, the flame ignited the alcohol vapors, catching the child, who was nearby, on fire. Despite being rushed to the hospital, B.T. suffered burns covering 54% of her body.
Witnessing B.T. covered in burn ointment, her body trembling from shock, the treating physician stated: “The treatment for her will be very challenging and will involve multiple stages due to the severity of her burns. It is still too early to determine the patient’s condition at this time.”
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Children suffering from injuries in the pre-operative room of the General Surgery Department at Children’s Hospital No. 2 |
In another case, Mr. Manh’s home (Binh Thanh District) had a TV placed on top of a cabinet, with the power cord hanging loosely. His son, T.H., just over a year old, was left unattended and pulled the TV’s cord down to play. The TV fell directly onto T.H.’s head. Upon arrival at the hospital, doctors could only watch as the child succumbed to severe brain trauma.
Similarly, 4-month-old L. also died from severe brain injury and liver rupture after a cabinet fell on him. His mother had hung a hammock for L. to sleep in, one end attached to a wardrobe door. She then left to attend to other tasks. When L.’s 4-year-old sister sat in the hammock with him, the unstable cabinet toppled over, crushing L. and causing head injuries.
The parents of M.G.H. (over 1 year old, living in Thu Duc) often let their child nap on a wooden loft without any railing. To prevent H. from falling, the father would lie outside to act as a barrier. However, one time, while the father was sound asleep, H. woke up, crawled over him, and fell about 3 meters to the ground.
“Most of the injuries that children under 5 years old sustain are due to the negligence of adults. If they paid a little more attention, such tragic accidents could have been avoided,” commented Dr. Dang Xuan Vinh from the General Surgery Department at Children’s Hospital No. 2.
According to doctors, in addition to adult carelessness, many accidents occur due to children’s mischievous behavior. For instance, 10-year-old N.V.H., who lives in District 9, saw a wooden stick about 0.5 meters tall sticking up from the ground on his way home from school. He decided to jump over it but unexpectedly got stuck and fell onto the sharp end of the stick, which pierced him from below, requiring emergency care.
In another case, 14-year-old T.T.D., also from District 9, was riding his bicycle alone and collided with a roadside pole. When he was brought to the District 9 Medical Center, he showed no signs of injury and was sent home. Later, he experienced abdominal pain, prompting his family to take him to Thu Duc Hospital, where he was subsequently transferred to Children’s Hospital No. 2 for emergency surgery. There, doctors discovered he had an abdominal abscess that required immediate surgery…
My Lan
