Khor Fakkan: A two-year-old Emirati boy died in hospital on Sunday night after efforts to dislodge a piece of grape from the child’s throat failed, medical authorities confirmed.
The Emirati boy, from the Al Walyah district, died in Khor Fakkan Hospital, an official said.
The child was admitted on Sunday night and he was clinically brain dead by the time he reached hospital.
Obeid Bin Fresh, director-general of Khor Fakkan Hospital, told Gulf News that the boy’s brain was deprived of oxygen due to a blocked airway.
- Dr Ashgan Hassan | Assistant director of medical affairs at Khor Fakkan Hospital
He was declared brain-dead on arrival.
Despite efforts of emergency staff to resuscitate the boy, he could not be revived.
The parents of the infant told hospital staff that they turned their son upside down and started beating his back in an attempt to remove the piece of grape from his mouth.
But it did not work and his face turned blue.
He was hardly breathing when they brought him to the nearest hospital.
First aid training for parents urged
Dr. Ashgan Hassan, assistant director of medical affairs at Khor Fakkan hospital, told Gulf News that all parents should take first aid training course to know how to deal with their children in case of any emergency.
She said if the brain is deprived of air for more than four minutes then it will affect the life of the person.
She advised parents to keep the hard materials away from the age when their toddlers start to walk.
Parents are advised, she said, to cut fruit into small pieces when they give it to their children and keep them under their observation to avoid such tragic accidents.
It is crucial, she said, that parents undergo training so that they do not cause more damage when patting the back or the front of a child to dislodge food from the airway.
“A parent can also try and open the child’s mouth to see if there is anything that is visibly choking the child and carefully try and pull it out,” she said.
However, parents should not try to place their hands in their child’s mouth if nothing is clearly visible as it could push the object, causing the obstruction further down.
“If the baby is unconscious, blue in colour or not breathing, parents who are trained should immediately begin to carry out CPR, and should call the emergency services for help,” Dr Hassan said.
Trained paramedics will try to dislodge the object from the baby’s throat, and provide him/her with oxygen if needed.
Dr. Hassan suggested that first aid training courses should be offered in public departments as well as in schools.
Clearing a choking child’s airway
As one of the worst killers of infants and children around the world, choking on foreign objects lodged in the airway can be countered by parents with the right steps in the event of an emergency. Do these steps only if the child is not breathing or crying, say safety experts.
1. START WITH BACK SLAPS
Shout for a person to call 999 if the baby shows signs of choking then immediately start with giving five back slaps between the baby’s shoulders to dislodge the foreign object from the baby’s airway. Facing down above the left arm, the baby should be tilted 45 degrees downwards with his head lower than his body and his legs towards the left elbow. The back slaps should be done using the heel of the hand until the object is dislodged from the mouth and the baby starts breathing again. If this doesn’t seem to work then quickly perform chest compressions.
2. CHEST COMPRESSIONS
To prevent choking in children, keep small objects out of reach, cut food into small pieces and don't let them have hard candy. Young children should be supervised while eating and playing.
