Summer peak season for children's injury

As Shanghai approaches the peak season for accidents involving children, already this month 1 child has died after falling from a window and a single hospital is treating 3 who suffered serious injuries.

Local doctors said the summer holiday months of July and August are the usual peak season for accidents involving children, with from mid July to late August seeing the highest numbers.

Accidents involving children increase by around 50 percent during summer holiday, compared to other times of year, doctors say.

Traffic accidents, drowning and falls are the top causes of children's injury and death.

Around noon on Monday, a 3-year-boy living in the Pudong New Area climbed out of a 5th-floor window from a desk while his grandmother was cooking lunch.

He was taken to Gongli Hospital, but was declared death there.

Dr Lu Guoping, director of the intensive care unit of Children's Hospital of Fudan University said his hospital had admitted 3 children involved in accidents since July 1.

Two had been in traffic accidents while had got into difficulties in water. All are receiving treatment at the hospital's intensive care unit, said Lu.

As accidents are one of the top causes of death for children aged under 5, parents must be vigilant and minimize risks at home, doctors said.

"Children aged between 2 and 5 are those most likely to have accidents," said Dr Li Hao from the hospital's trauma center.

"Everyday items such as scissors, medicines, plastic bags, plugs and nuts can all be lethal if adults don't pay enough attention."

Last year 60 children were recorded as dying in accidents in Shanghai, a third of whom drowned.

However, the actual figure is likely to be considerably higher as this total does not include pre-schoolers and children registered as living outside the city.