Hanoi: 9-month-old child burned at preschool, school owner says: 'Very minor incident'

On March 27, speaking with Tien Phong reporter , Ms. Lanh Thi Hoang Diep, parent of 9-month-old LNA in Ba Dinh district (Hanoi) said that she was heartbroken and upset when she sent her child to Van Phuc private kindergarten not long ago because of an accident with boiling water that resulted in third-degree burns.

Ms. Diep said that her family sent her child to school on March 4 and the staff completed the admission and class placement procedures.

Her child went to school as usual until March 18, when she received a phone call from the class teacher, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao, informing her that her child had been burned and was being taken to a private hospital near the school. At that time, Ms. Diep was on a business trip and could not return immediately, so she asked a family member to go to the hospital.

According to Ms. Diep, the child is currently being treated with traditional medicine. What she is most worried about is that after the wound heals, the extensive burn will leave a large scar.

Immediately after being examined at a private hospital, the family was informed that the child would be transferred to Xanh Pon Hospital for treatment. Here, the doctor diagnosed that the child had burns that affected less than 10% of the body's surface. Detailed description: 3% second and third degree boiling water burns on the neck, chest, and right shoulder.

According to Ms. Diep, during the days her child was treated at the hospital, the school assigned two teachers to take turns taking care of her child and paying the hospital fees. After that, Ms. Diep discharged her child from the hospital to receive treatment at a traditional medicine facility until now.

During the process of treating her child's injury, Ms. Diep requested that the preschool clarify the reason why her child had an accident at school and that the school make a commitment to ensure responsibility for treating the child until he fully recovers.

However, up to this point, she has only received a report from the teacher. When talking to the school manager, this person refused to write a commitment to take full responsibility for the incident with the child.

“I sent my child to school hoping that the teachers would take care of him safely, but what he got in return was painful burns and deprivation. In the past few days, he has been crying constantly, and I have had to quit my job to look after him, which has greatly affected my life. My family has not requested or received any compensation from the school. What I am very worried about is that after the wound heals, the extensive burns will leave a large scar. However, when I asked the school to commit to treating him until he is completely healed, including treating the scar later, I was considered unreasonable,” said Ms. Diep.

Ms. Diep hopes that after the incident, the school must commit to taking responsibility so that her child can recover quickly and limit future scarring.

Just bad luck?

The two teachers who looked after the children, Ms. Thao and Ms. Trang, also made a report about the incident. According to the report, while the teacher was looking after some other children, Ms. Thao went to make milk for LNA. While making the milk, the teacher left the hot water bottle on the chair and the children playing nearby crawled up and pulled the chair leg, causing the water bottle to fall and causing burns. We were very scared and immediately reported to the management to coordinate with the family to take the child to the hospital."

In the report, the two teachers also expressed regret for causing the child's safety and pledged to take care of the child during his stay in the hospital.

Regarding the incident, Ms. Nguyen Minh Chau, who claimed to be the owner of Van Phuc Private Kindergarten, confirmed that there was an incident where a child was burned while the teacher was preparing milk and said it was an "unfortunate incident". "Normally, the water heating area is on the 4th floor, but on the day of the incident, the teacher was boiling water to prepare the milk bottle that the parent brought," according to Ms. Chau.

Ms. Chau said that the educational institution knew that the incident was due to a safety concern for the children, so they sent teachers to take care of them and paid more than 10 million VND for hospital fees and medical expenses for the children. The school also held a meeting and suspended the 2 teachers who caused the incident.

However, Ms. Chau said that it is unreasonable for parents to ask the school to make a commitment for their children to undergo cosmetic surgery to avoid scarring. "I can buy scar-prevention medicine for my child, but if they demand cosmetic surgery, the school would be closed," Ms. Chau said.

Responding to the reporter's question, after the incident occurred, did the facility report to the management agency? Ms. Chau said: "This is a very small matter. Incidents occurring at kindergartens are normal."

It is known that Van Phuc Kindergarten is located at 71 Phan Ke Binh, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi. This facility has about 40 children, the youngest is 9 months old.

Ha Linh

Source: https://tienphong.vn/ha-noi-tre-9-thang-tuoi-bi-bong-tai-co-so-mam-non-chu-truong-noi-su-viec-rat-nho-post1728665.tpo