Young Children Injured through Accidental Burns
Ministry of HealthSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the monitoring and prevention of accidental burn injuries among young children, as raised by Dr Tan Wu Meng. Parliamentary Secretary Mr Amrin Amin stated that the Ministry of Health tracks these injuries via the National Trauma Registry, recording an average of 580 cases annually. He noted that most incidents occur at home, specifically in kitchens, prompting the inclusion of safety checklists in the Health Promotion Board’s Child Health Booklet. Hospitals also conduct community education programs and provide digital resources to raise awareness about first aid and child safety. These initiatives offer specific advice on kitchen precautions, bath water preparation, and keeping hot objects or electrical outlets out of reach.
Transcript
3 Dr Tan Wu Meng asked the Minister for Health (a) whether the Ministry monitors the number of young children injured through accidental burns each year; and (b) what measures are being taken to increase awareness among parents and caregivers of burn risks and how to prevent burns in the home.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health (Mr Amrin Amin) (for the Minister for Health): The Ministry of Health (MOH) monitors the number of young children with burn injuries through the National Trauma Registry. The incidence of notified cases of burns in children below the age of 16 years between 2011 and 2015, averaged 70 cases per 100,000 population. This adds to 580 cases per year, on average. Approximately half of the cases occurred among children under three years old and more than three-quarters of the cases occurred at home. Of the cases occurring at home, half happened in the kitchens.
Information on burns prevention are included in the child safety checklist in the Health Promotion Board (HPB)'s Child Health Booklet, which is issued to every child born in Singapore. In addition, burns prevention and first aid tips for caregivers are available at HPB’s Health Hub.
Hospitals also conduct community education programmes to raise awareness of burns and scalds, which include talks to childcare teachers on child safety, information pamphlets to parents, as well as educational videos which are hosted on their websites and played at hospital clinics.
Parents and caregivers play an important role and they have to take the necessary precautions to protect their children from burns. Most critically, parents should avoid allowing young children in kitchens where the risk of getting burns or scalds are high, due to the presence of hot objects.
Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for his answer. I was just wondering to what extent does HPB's advice to parents of young children, include the specific reference to burns prevention at home?
Mr Amrin Amin: The materials are very comprehensive in the Health Booklets Children Safety Checklist. It provides guidelines and it also includes advice on preparing water for child's bath, as well as ensuring that hot drinks are out of reach of children, and ensuring that electrical outlets are not within children's reach.
In short, the answer to the Member's question is, yes, it is very focused on places where such burn incidents happen, and that includes kitchen, living room and other places.
Dr Chia Shi-Lu (Tanjong Pagar): I am not sure whether there is data on this. But of those cases that the Parliamentary Secretary cited, does he have any data on how many are non-accidental in nature? That means is it related to abuse or suspected abuse?
Mr Amrin Amin: I do not have the answer now. Maybe the Member could file a separate Parliamentary Question.