HMC urges public to follow safety measures at beaches, swimming pools

Dr. Khalid Abdulnoor, Senior Consultant Emergency Medicine and Director of the Hamad International Training Center at Hamad Medical Corporation, said that drowning is the third most major cause of unintentional injuries worldwide, that accounts for 7 percent of those deaths.
Thousands of deaths are estimated to occur by drowning worldwide, and children and individuals with access to water are the most vulnerable groups.
Children's drowning deaths increase annually and  it is considered one of the main causes of death and severe disability among children in Qatar.
Dr. Abdulnoor noted that 90 percent of the total cases of drowning are among children aged 10 years and under, while the percentage reaches 70 percent of the total cases of drowning for children under 4 years.
He added that most incidents of drowning occur at this time of the year at sea, coinciding with the families visiting beaches for enjoyment and entertainment, as well as in swimming pools, whether external or home, where the risk factors increase when parents are not accompanying their children while swimming.
He stressed the importance of adopting precautionary measures to prevent accidents of drowning, including those related to swimming pools at home, where safety standards must be adhered to in terms of building tight fences around the pools, which in turn hinder children's access to them when parents are not nearby.
For his part, Dr. Mahmoud Younis, Assistant Executive Director of Health Education and Community Participation at Hamad International Training Center, reviewed a number of precautions and procedures that families must follow when going to the beaches or when allowing their children to go down in the swimming pools, the most important of which is to consider meteorological condition before going to the beaches to avoid strong winds and high waves, which results in severe consequences, and follow safety instructions while swimming when going to beaches or swimming pools. Dr. Younis also stressed the need to follow children while swimming and make sure they are in the places designated for them under constant monitoring by parents, as drownings take place in a few minutes.
Children should also wear a swimming jacket or safe aids, learn how to swim and how to perform CPR (artificial respiration).
Likewise, the doors to other potential dangers like bathtubs should always be closed after the use.
Dr. Mahmoud Younis also warned that drowning can cause severe disability in some cases despite being able to prevent death.  Having the knowledge of how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (artificial respiration) can help to a great extent as the first minutes after the recovering from water play an important and vital role in saving the people involved. Rescuers should act wisely without getting excited,  Dr. Younis said. He also said the first aid kits should be kept near the pool.