Azman Ujang
THIS column shifts into sombre gear today following the tragic death of my grandson last Wednesday at a creche in Damansara. Muhammad Affan Syahin Mohd Rizal was just 10 weeks old and according to a post-mortem by the Sungai Buloh Hospital, had choked on milk.
The news made it to the front page of Berita Harian and was reported in other newspapers. According to the daily, this was the seventh such death of babies reported so far this year.
He was rushed to the hospital’s emergency ward by the creche operator where a doctor and some nurses attended to him upon arrival around 11am.When I arrived at the ward around 11.15am, the doctor told me what must be the saddest breaking news of my life: “I’m sorry, your grandson actually died some four hours ago.”
These ubiquitous creches or day-care centres are providing a vital service especially with more and more women joining the workforce. Government agencies like the Social Welfare Department need to reach out to these centres on a pro-active basis, and help them as much as possible in terms of providing training on the proper handing of children, especially toddlers. This is better than reacting to incidents.
I would say that such centres do not make much money and their owners are also imbued with a sense of public service. Imagine the hardships faced by families where both parents are working if we did not have such centres.The centres are even more crucial now as it becomes increasingly problematic to hire maids especially from Indonesia with so much politics and bureaucracy in the way.
I know of many working mothers who had to quit their jobs after weighing the pros and cons of having their infants placed at creches. A friend told me that his daughter who has three degrees and was holding a lucrative job is now a full-time housewife. But not many can follow suit as Malaysia is largely a middle-income society and both parents still need to work to make ends meet.
Prominent social activist Tan Sri Robert Phang fully supports the idea for the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, its agencies and related NGOs to reach out to creches to ensure best practices.Even if the creches require subsidies to implement the guidelines, I think it’s more than worth it as we are dealing with the care of very young children where even the slightest mistake could result in an unfortunate incident.
Phang said the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation where he chairs a committee plans to mobilise support for a dialogue among government agencies and NGOs not only on preventing crime but also helping working mothers with children at creches.In this way, the working mothers can be assured of their children’s safety and have some peace of mind while at work.
Going forward, I believe only the prime minister, who is also holding the fort at the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry following the resignation of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, would have the political will to bring about positive changes to enable the ministry to help the creches.
Shahrizat said she was sad and angry at what had happened. I must thank her for her caring attitude which has been her trademark all these years.Incidents such as this can no longer be considered isolated and many similar cases may have gone unreported.
I visited the creche two days after Affan Syahin died and the owner was in tears, profusely apologising for what had happened. She said parents of other children in her care had approached her after reading the news and were anxious to know what would happen to the creche.“If your family were to sue us, I would have to close,” she said between sobs. I assured her that my son’s family would not take such action as nothing could bring back my grandson’s life. But I advised her not to allow it to happen to other children under her care.
Other creches should take stock and review their procedures since they have precious lives under their care and the importance of this must not be underestimated.I received hundreds of text messages expressing condolences from relatives and friends. May I take this opportunity on behalf of my son’s family and that of my own to thank them from the bottom of my heart.
It’s one thing to deal with the death of say, your parents, siblings or any other member of your family but in the case of a grandchild – let alone a child of only two and a half months – I would say, it’s quite another altogether.It’s hard to explain in words the special place in terms of love and affection that grandparents have in their hearts for their grandchildren.I hope that improvements mentioned above will come about sooner or later. At the very least, we might be able to prevent such tragic deaths in the future.
Source : http://www.thesundaily.my/news/422926
THIS column shifts into sombre gear today following the tragic death of my grandson last Wednesday at a creche in Damansara. Muhammad Affan Syahin Mohd Rizal was just 10 weeks old and according to a post-mortem by the Sungai Buloh Hospital, had choked on milk.
The news made it to the front page of Berita Harian and was reported in other newspapers. According to the daily, this was the seventh such death of babies reported so far this year.
He was rushed to the hospital’s emergency ward by the creche operator where a doctor and some nurses attended to him upon arrival around 11am.When I arrived at the ward around 11.15am, the doctor told me what must be the saddest breaking news of my life: “I’m sorry, your grandson actually died some four hours ago.”
These ubiquitous creches or day-care centres are providing a vital service especially with more and more women joining the workforce. Government agencies like the Social Welfare Department need to reach out to these centres on a pro-active basis, and help them as much as possible in terms of providing training on the proper handing of children, especially toddlers. This is better than reacting to incidents.
I would say that such centres do not make much money and their owners are also imbued with a sense of public service. Imagine the hardships faced by families where both parents are working if we did not have such centres.The centres are even more crucial now as it becomes increasingly problematic to hire maids especially from Indonesia with so much politics and bureaucracy in the way.
I know of many working mothers who had to quit their jobs after weighing the pros and cons of having their infants placed at creches. A friend told me that his daughter who has three degrees and was holding a lucrative job is now a full-time housewife. But not many can follow suit as Malaysia is largely a middle-income society and both parents still need to work to make ends meet.
Prominent social activist Tan Sri Robert Phang fully supports the idea for the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, its agencies and related NGOs to reach out to creches to ensure best practices.Even if the creches require subsidies to implement the guidelines, I think it’s more than worth it as we are dealing with the care of very young children where even the slightest mistake could result in an unfortunate incident.
Phang said the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation where he chairs a committee plans to mobilise support for a dialogue among government agencies and NGOs not only on preventing crime but also helping working mothers with children at creches.In this way, the working mothers can be assured of their children’s safety and have some peace of mind while at work.
Going forward, I believe only the prime minister, who is also holding the fort at the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry following the resignation of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, would have the political will to bring about positive changes to enable the ministry to help the creches.
Shahrizat said she was sad and angry at what had happened. I must thank her for her caring attitude which has been her trademark all these years.Incidents such as this can no longer be considered isolated and many similar cases may have gone unreported.
I visited the creche two days after Affan Syahin died and the owner was in tears, profusely apologising for what had happened. She said parents of other children in her care had approached her after reading the news and were anxious to know what would happen to the creche.“If your family were to sue us, I would have to close,” she said between sobs. I assured her that my son’s family would not take such action as nothing could bring back my grandson’s life. But I advised her not to allow it to happen to other children under her care.
Other creches should take stock and review their procedures since they have precious lives under their care and the importance of this must not be underestimated.I received hundreds of text messages expressing condolences from relatives and friends. May I take this opportunity on behalf of my son’s family and that of my own to thank them from the bottom of my heart.
It’s one thing to deal with the death of say, your parents, siblings or any other member of your family but in the case of a grandchild – let alone a child of only two and a half months – I would say, it’s quite another altogether.It’s hard to explain in words the special place in terms of love and affection that grandparents have in their hearts for their grandchildren.I hope that improvements mentioned above will come about sooner or later. At the very least, we might be able to prevent such tragic deaths in the future.
Source : http://www.thesundaily.my/news/422926
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