KUCHING – The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will make it compulsory for nursery operators to contact parents if their child is absent to prevent accidental deaths of children left in cars.
Its Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the standard operating procedures (SOP) regarding the matter need to be updated following recent cases caused by parents forgetting to drop off their children at daycare facilities.
“If parents cannot be reached, nurseries should have an (additional) emergency contact number to allow them to get in touch with other family members.
“However, there are certain things I cannot do because it falls under a different ministry. For example, people say no more tinted screens. That is not under me and I can only attend to matters under my ministry’s purview,” she told reporters after the Sarawak Media Night event here yesterday.
Nancy stressed that enforcing the SOP can, at the very least, reduce the duration children are left in cars, thereby minimising the risk of death compared to extended periods of seven to eight hours.
She added that three cases of child death in cars have been reported from October to date. – November 13, 2023