Knesset Focuses on Child Burn Victims

YERUSHALAYIM

Half of all burn victims in Israel are children. Yet, there is not a single burn unit in the country that specializes in treating child victims, according to a report submitted to the Knesset this week.

Although the government has been promising to address the problem for over a decade, in the absence of funding, no hospital has been able to establish a special unit for children.

Galit Gilad, the head of the Terem organization, which provides emergency medical care, on Tuesday recounted to the Knesset Committee for the Rights of Children that her 6-year-old daughter was burned by boiling water that her grandfather was carrying.

“We were a full year treating the burns,” she said. Most of the incidents occur in the home, particular in the kitchen, and half of the children burned are under the age of four. “Their bodies are small, and the burns are massive. Only greater awareness can prevent these tragedies.”

She noted that the awareness has grown, and that the Health Ministry has mounted an information campaign across all the population sectors.

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