New mothers in Dubai will be dissuaded from leaving hospital without an appropriate child car seat under new proposals to lower child injuries and deaths as a result of car crashes.
Around 1,000 children are injured every year in the emirate in traffic incidents; the majority of which are traffic-related, according to information released by the Department of Health and Medical Services and the Road Traffic Authority.
No child-safety laws for children travelling in vehicles, such as mandating the use of car seats or seatbelts for young children, currently exist in Dubai.
Under the initiative, launched at Al Wasl Hospital last month, new parents will be asked to sign up to the Safe Kids programme that will push the use of child car seats, educate parents on using them and offer information on how to ensure the safety of children while traveling.
However, parents will not be barred from taking newborns home if they do not have a suitable seat, Alison Ramsey, director of nursing at Al Wasl said.
“They are going to be encouraged to have a car seat. I don’t think we can bar them from leaving at the moment, but in the UK you would not let them take home a baby without one.”
One option could be for hospitals to loan car seats to new parents, she added. “It’s a big issue in Dubai that children are not strapped into the cars and we really have to start the ball rolling with car safety.”
The initiative will be rolled out to Dubai Hospital this month before becoming an emirate-wide initiative next year.
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