A day after a one-and-half-year-old baby, Prethika, choked to death, the safety of children in day-care centres has come under the scanner. The day care centre-cum-play school where the incident occurred was closed on Thursday and the police are awaiting her postmortem report from the government hospital to decide the next course of action.
Prethika choked to death on Wednesday afternoon while being fed by a caretaker in the center. Sources in CMCH, where the post-mortem was conducted, told TOI that the child is likely to have been force-fed while she was crying.
The incident jolted the lakhs of working parents across the state who send their children to day-care centres and play-schools. Pediatricians say child fatalities due to choking has been on the rise for the past few years, due to them swallowing small toy pieces, nuts or even batteries.
The day-care center owner, Ravichandran, said the child was probably suffering from health problems earlier because she did not come to the center regularly.
Prethika choked to death on Wednesday afternoon while being fed by a caretaker in the center. Sources in CMCH, where the post-mortem was conducted, told TOI that the child is likely to have been force-fed while she was crying.
The incident jolted the lakhs of working parents across the state who send their children to day-care centres and play-schools. Pediatricians say child fatalities due to choking has been on the rise for the past few years, due to them swallowing small toy pieces, nuts or even batteries.
The day-care center owner, Ravichandran, said the child was probably suffering from health problems earlier because she did not come to the center regularly.