‘Don’t give palm oil to children to induce vomiting’

The Medical Director of Iran Clinic, Dr Masoud Maleki Birjandi, has urged parents not to give their children, suspected of swallowing dangerous substances, palm oil to induce them to vomit.

He explained that the practice was quite dangerous because if it was not well coordinated and controlled by the body’s reflexes, a person could get some of the vomitus into the airway and be choked to death.

Interventions

He said the crude interventions had often worsened the conditions of children who had drunk dangerous substances.

Dr Birjandi stated this in an interview with the Daily Graphic at a training programme on first aid being undertaken by the Iran Clinic, in collaboration with the Ghana Red Cross Society.

The training programme is under a project to train 10,000 first aid volunteers in the Greater Accra Region.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has, therefore, been signed between the two organisations to that effect.

Dr Birjandi said the training was being held at the clinic, which had been operating in the country for the past 30 years under the auspices of the Iranian Crescent Society  (IFRC).

Training

As part of the training, participants are taken through various first aids, ranging from the techniques of reviving victims who had collapsed, handling of children, who had drunk poisonous substances and those with heart attack.

Participants, he said, would be awarded with certificates and equipped.

The resource persons, he said, were from the Iran Clinic, the Ghana Red Cross Society, and some medical practitioners.
 
Child injuries, he said, were global public health problem, adding that in 2011, WHO estimated that over 630 000 children, under the age of 15, were killed by injuries.

“The WHO report also indicates that injuries are the leading causes of death,” he added.

He said with a little knowledge of first aid skills, one could safely intervene to save lives and reduce the unfortunate mortalities.