World News | Doctors warn of frequent swallowing incidents in children

Tel Aviv [Israel]May 20 (ANI/TPS): In a worrying series of incidents, four children have been taken to Assuta Ashdod Public Hospital after each ingesting a foreign object over the past four days.

The children, ages 4 to 10, swallowed coins, magnetic game pieces, and necklace beads. Two of the cases required emergency surgery. To make matters worse, a six-year-old boy was also admitted to the intensive care unit in Assuta on Saturday after choking on a piece of candy.

Read also | G7 Summit 2023: PM Modi holds bilateral talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Hiroshima; stresses the need to highlight the Global South (see pics and video).

Dr. Sharon Avnet Tamir said: “I appeal to all parents and ask for a warning: when it comes to small children, anything small can be aspirated into the lungs or swallowed and lodged in the esophagus. Keep them out of it”, Assuta Head and Neck Chief of Surgery.

Two of the children did not require surgical intervention. A hospital spokesman said the objects were passed naturally following non-invasive treatment and the children were sent home.

Read also | G7 Summit 2023: PM Narendra Modi discusses expanding cooperation in defense, technology, trade and investment with Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Trung (watch video).

But the other two children were not so lucky.

A seven-year-old girl swallowed fragments of magnetic game that remained firmly in her intestines despite a 72-hour effort to naturally remove them, X-rays showed. A four-year-old girl who was having trouble breathing also underwent surgery when X-rays revealed silver coins in her esophagus.

Medical consultation by Dr Tamir, Head of Pediatric Gastroenterology Dr Hani Tuff Ulverston and other senior doctors concluded that immediate surgery was necessary to preserve the girl’s life.

The first operation, led by Dr. Ofer Glick and Dr. Jordan Tanenbaum of the Department of Head and Neck Surgery, successfully removed the coin from the four-year-old girl on Tuesday afternoon.

Dr Ulverston operated on the seven-year-old girl on Wednesday morning to remove the pieces.

After the surgery, the girls were transferred to Assuta’s Children’s Unit for further care and supervision.

“Unfortunately, in recent months we have seen a significant increase in hospital referrals for playing with and ingesting magnetic game parts,” Dr. Ulverston said. “We urge parents not to bring magnet games into their homes. The best defense is prevention. We can’t wait for a tragedy to wake us up.”

Dr. Neely Liunai, senior pediatrician at Children’s Medical Center, also stressed that parents need to be vigilant, especially when children are young.

“It is our duty as parents to be vigilant and prevent the next disaster! Small children understand the world and tend to put everything in their mouths. Parents must be careful to prevent them from playing with age-inappropriate small parts,” she said.

“In addition, children under five have poorer chewing and swallowing skills compared to food” (ANI/TPS)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)