Summer vacation sees alarming rise in childhood accidents in HCMC hospitals

Although the summer break has only just commenced, hospitals across HCMC are already reporting a significant influx of pediatric patients due to domestic accidents. Common incidents include accidental ingestion of foreign objects, burns, drowning, bee stings, snake bites, traffic accidents, and falls. These accidental injuries not only pose a fatal risk to children but can also lead to severe, long-lasting sequelae, potentially rendering children a burden to their families and society.

The city’s Children’s Hospital recently performed a life-saving intervention for S.M., an 11-year-old Russian boy who sustained critical injuries in a traffic accident while vacationing with his family in Nha Trang. After ten days of intensive treatment, the boy is now alert, responsive, and able to communicate with nursing staff with the aid of language translation technology. His psychological state has also markedly improved, thanks to supportive therapies. Prior to this, doctors at the same hospital successfully treated L.N.P.Kh., a 3-year-old from District 8 of HCMC, who suffered anaphylactic shock following a bee sting.

According to Level-II Specialist Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Deputy Head of the Gastroenterology Department at Children’s Hospital No.2, a large number of recent pediatric hospitalizations are attributable to accidents stemming from adult complacency or momentary carelessness.

“During the summer vacation, children are naturally more active and often less supervised”, the Deputy Head explained. “This makes them highly susceptible to incidents such as accidentally ingesting cleaning chemicals, choking on foreign objects, or putting small items like batteries, buttons, or tiny toys into their mouths.”

She further informed that annually, her hospital manages approximately 250-300 cases involving digestive tract foreign bodies and accidental chemical ingestion. In the first quarter of this year alone, they have treated and saved 26 such cases.

At Children’s Hospital No.1 in HCMC, Level-II Specialist Dinh Tan Phuong, Head of the Emergency Department, reported that the hospital frequently admits children suffering from a range of summer-related accidents. These include electric shocks, scalds from boiling water, traffic accidents, snake bites, accidental ingestion of cleaning agents, and swallowing foreign objects.

“A significant number of these hospitalizations are due to drowning, particularly among children who cannot swim”, Head Dinh Tan Phuong noted. “Some drowning incidents tragically occur even at supervised swimming pools, where, due to overcrowding, a child might submerge unnoticed. Many other cases involve young children falling and landing face-down in basins or buckets of water in bathrooms, leading to suffocation.”

Statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) reveal a grim reality that over 900,000 children and adolescents die annually from injuries, 90 percent of which are unintentional. In Vietnam, data from the Ministry of Health indicate that over 370,000 children sustain accidental injuries each year. The 15-19 age group accounts for the highest proportion of these injuries (43 percent), followed by the 5-14 age group (36.9 percent), with the 0-4 age group having the lowest rate (19.5 percent).

Approximately 6,600 child deaths occur annually in Vietnam due to accidental injuries, representing 35.5 percent of all child fatalities nationwide from all causes. Boys tend to experience injuries more frequently and with greater severity than girls, and the mortality rate among males is three times higher than that among females.

Head Dinh Tan Phuong emphasized that accidental injuries in children are particularly prevalent during the summer months. “Parents need to be exceptionally vigilant in ensuring their children’s safety and proactively take measures to prevent common accidents both at home and in the community”, he advised.

“For younger children, constant adult supervision is paramount. Parents should prevent them from playing with coins or other small objects that can be easily swallowed and cause choking. For older children proficient in using bicycles or electric motorbikes, parents must instruct them on strict adherence to traffic laws, equip them with good observation skills, and consistently remind them to wear helmets and use appropriate lanes and speeds. Crucially, parents should educate children about potential hazards that can lead to injuries – such as falls, burns, electric shocks, and choking – thereby fostering their awareness and ability to protect themselves.”

Level-II Specialist Dinh Tan Phuong, Head of the Emergency Department (Children’s Hospital No.1 in HCMC)