On February 13, a representative from Children’s Hospital 2 (Ho Chi Minh City) reported that since the beginning of the year, the hospital has admitted seven cases of drowning children. Most of these cases were severe, resulting in either death or discharge due to untreatable conditions.
A notable case involved a 3-year-old girl, T.M.T., from Đắk Nông Province. According to her medical history, while playing, she and a friend fell into a pond in front of their house. Upon discovering the incident, adults quickly pulled the children out and performed first aid, including water expulsion and back patting, but one child died.
T. was taken to a local clinic for emergency treatment and later transferred to Children’s Hospital 2. However, her condition was critical, with an out-of-hospital cardiac and respiratory arrest diagnosis. The family eventually decided to take her home.
According to statistics from the Planning and General Department of Children’s Hospital 2, among the seven drowning cases treated from January to date, five were children under five years old, one was six, and another was 13.
A child receiving treatment for drowning at Children's Hospital 2A child receiving treatment for drowning at Children’s Hospital 2 (Photo: BV).
Dr. Ngô Thị Thanh Thủy, Deputy Head of the Emergency Department at Children’s Hospital 2, shared that drowning is one of the most common household accidents and can be fatal. Children aged 1-3 have the highest drowning rates, primarily due to a lack of proper supervision by adults.
Notably, drowning incidents involving young children often occur at home, such as falling into bathtubs, jars, buckets, canals, or ponds. Older children may encounter drowning accidents in swimming pools, ponds, streams, or while swimming at the beach.
Doctors advise that when a child is found drowning, parents should remain calm, quickly remove the child from the water, and place them in a safe lying position, changing their clothes to keep them warm.
Next, assess the child’s breathing. If the child is not breathing, immediate ventilation can be performed by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. If the victim vomits, place the child on their side and clear the vomit using your hand, gauze, or a suction tube. Then, promptly take the child to the nearest medical facility.
Dr. Thủy added that on-site first aid must be performed urgently, avoiding any incorrect actions that could worsen the child’s condition or delay the “golden time” for resuscitation, especially in cases of cardiac and respiratory arrest.
Specifically, never warm the child over a fire, as it may cause burns and hypotension due to vasodilation; avoid expelling water as it delays rescue efforts; and refrain from inducing vomiting or attempting to remove water from the lungs, as these actions are ineffective.
To prevent further tragic incidents, parents should proactively safeguard against drowning accidents, remaining vigilant even if the child knows how to swim, particularly for families living near ponds, lakes, rivers, or streams.
Additionally, children participating in water activities should always be under adult supervision or monitored by experienced swimmers. Furthermore, avoid leaving buckets or containers filled with water inside the house, and ensure protective barriers around decorative rock gardens and ornamental fish ponds.
