Summer safety for children

Summer activities at the children's reading room, Thanh Hoa Provincial Library.

On the afternoon of May 24, 2025, while playing, HQD (born in 2019) and VHTA (born in 2018) took half a bottle of gasoline to burn an ant nest, then the fire broke out. Hearing her children's screams, Ms. Ha Thi Khuyen (D.'s mother), who was harvesting rice not far away, ran home and saw that the children were burned all over. Ms. Khuyen immediately covered the children with wet clothes to put out the fire, then took them to Nhu Thanh District General Hospital, then transferred them to Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital. At the hospital, doctors diagnosed D. with third-degree burns, covering 15% of the body, mainly on the face and right forearm. A. suffered third-degree burns covering up to 60% of the body, including the entire back, abdomen, hands, groin, genitals, buttocks and thighs. Due to the serious condition, A. was transferred to the Emergency - Intensive Care and Anti-Poison Department, Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital.

Or like the incident on June 4, 2025, patient NTKT (born in 2020) was admitted to Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital in a deep coma, respiratory failure, pulmonary edema and circulatory failure. T. was given a very serious prognosis, threatening death. According to the family, before the accident, T. played in the garden and fell into the family's dirty pond. He was discovered unconscious and received first aid on the spot, then taken to the District General Hospital in a coma. Here, doctors performed endotracheal intubation, intravenous fluids, diuretics, and transferred him to Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital for further treatment.

Dr. Ngo Viet Hung, Head of the Department of Emergency - Intensive Care and Anti-Poison, Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital, said: Drowning accidents in children often tend to increase during heat waves, summer vacations, and holidays. Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital annually receives and treats many drowning patients with many different conditions, but not all are lucky enough to survive. Treatment results depend on many factors, in which the process of detection and first aid on the spot is extremely important. Although medicine has now implemented many active resuscitation methods, with advanced equipment, drowning emergency treatment still faces many difficulties, with a high mortality rate or leaving irreversible brain damage, which is a burden for families and society, especially in the group of patients who have stopped breathing and stopped their heart.

According to statistics, from the beginning of the year to the end of May 2025, there were 9 accidents and injuries to children in the province, causing 14 deaths, including 8 drowning accidents causing death to 13 children; 1 traffic accident causing death to 1 child (accounting for 89% of the total number of cases and 92% of the number of children who died from drowning).

Faced with the above situation, in order to drastically implement measures to prevent accidents and injuries, especially drowning accidents, and ensure the safety of children in the province, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province requested the provincial departments, branches, sectors, mass organizations and the People's Committees of communes and wards to seriously and effectively implement the strengthening of leadership and direction, promoting the role and responsibility of heads and heads of agencies and units in directing the implementation and implementation of accident and injury prevention and control, especially child drowning; regularly inspect and urge the implementation in the localities, fields and units in charge; periodically or suddenly directly inspect routes, areas and locations with high risk of drowning accidents to promptly direct correction and remediation.

In addition, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also requested to promote information, communication, dissemination and legal education on child accident and injury prevention and control with diverse forms, practical and accessible content,... to raise awareness and responsibility of Party committees, authorities, sectors, organizations, agencies, units, families and the whole society, especially emphasizing the work of preventing and combating drowning accidents to ensure absolute safety for children in the summer and rainy and stormy seasons...

To join hands in building a safe and healthy living environment for children, it is also necessary to strengthen inspection and examination of compliance with legal regulations on preventing and combating accidents and injuries to children. In particular, focus on inspecting and strictly handling violations related to standards and criteria for child safety at construction sites, public works, means of transport, entertainment areas and equipment for children... Resolutely not allowing the existence of points of risk that endanger children's safety.

In addition, it is necessary to encourage the organization of summer activities in residential areas, with the coordination of youth unions and youth unions at all levels - where summer playgrounds become spaces for children to "learn while playing, play while learning". The education sector also needs to strengthen coordination with relevant departments, branches and units to systematically integrate life skills education, injury prevention and drowning into summer activities. At the same time, it is necessary to encourage the expansion of public living spaces for children such as libraries, cultural houses, museums, sports areas... with preferential policies, ticket exemptions...

Article and photos: Linh Huong

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/mua-he-an-toan-nbsp-cho-tre-254040.htm