THE SAD DEATH OF TWO KIDS IN THEIR FATHERS CAR-LET’S COMMENCE A CHILD PROTECTION PROGRAM

Let's pay extra attention to our children especially when they are very young at home as they play about. This is what came to mind and which should be considered seriously by all parents and the government. The news is that two kids have again lost their lives while playing in their father's car in Accra.

This sad occurrence had happened several times in the country to some young families. What this means is that these families who lost their kids after going through difficulties to produce them would have to begin from scratch to endeavor to produce new children. This is disheartening indeed.

The miserable news is that two children, aged two and four, lost their lives through suffocation last Saturday after they were trapped in their father's car at Asofa, a part of Achimota in Accra.

Four-year-old Samuel Okoampah-Ntow and two-year-old Samuela Okoampah met their fate when they found their way into their father's taxi after the man had parked it and went into a church with their mother not too far from their house for a meeting.

The children, according to a police report, as their father and mother were in the church, found their way into the car after they were left to play with their friends from the neighborhood within the church premises.

They were trapped in the taxi with registration number GT 7187-13, gasping for air until they were discovered unconscious by their parents when the duo returned from the meeting.

It was a melancholic spectacle as the parents found it difficult to contain their emotions.

The unconscious kids were rushed to the Aneija Clinic at Tantra Hill, Achimota, but were pronounced dead on arrival by a doctor.

It was discovered that the father, Francis Okoampah-Ntow, did not lock the car when he let the kids out to play, making it possible for them to gain easy access into the taxi, and their eventual suffocation.

As said earlier, this is not the first time that children got trapped to death in cars in Ghana and other nations across the world. However what need to be done is to be attentive to children at home. Children in their formative years are very adventurous and playful. As they see their parent drive cars around they would definitely wish to imitate them. We therefore have to pay attention to their movements and what they do at home. The state especially the Ministry of Gender Children and its Social Welfare department must do more regarding children's welfare. The bodies concerned must embark of projects to sensitize communities on how to maintain the safety of their children at all times. If possible a team could be set up to promote public safety within the social welfare department to work towards preventing the untimely deaths of children as they play about in their homes and neighborhoods

When similar incidents happened in the United States the nation took steps to protect children from dying in their parents' cars.

EMS officials participate in a demonstration of the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles during a news conference to launch the 'Look before You Lock' campaign at the Campagna Center at George Washington Head Start on August 17, 2012 in Alexandria, Virginia. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The case in point is that, an 11-month-old in Alabama is the 21st child victim this year to die of heat stroke after being left in a car. The baby girl was left for approximately three hours in her parents' vehicle Wednesday.

Her body temperature when found was 105 degrees, according to local police.

Jenny Stanley, a mother of three, is all too familiar with the pain of losing a child to hyperthermia, the medical term for heat stroke.

On August 22, 2010, her daughter Sydney climbed into the family's parked car and became trapped inside the vehicle. The family thought she was at the neighbor's house playing with her friend.

When Sydney was finally found by Jenny's husband, Mike, it was too late. Paramedics on the scene were unable to resuscitate her. She was six years old.

Stanley now dedicates her time working with Safe Kids and the General Motors Foundation, making other parents aware of the dangers of unattended children in cars. We can embark on a similar initiative. Therefore lets embark on the initiative now

Executive Director
eanfoworld for sustainable development (GET IN TOUCH WITH US)
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