Baby’s death at day care centre… Both parties negligent

- Children’s Rights official

In wake of the recent death at a Day Care Centre at Thomas Street, Kitty, a senior official associated with Children’s Rights has stated that there was some amount of negligence on the part of the day care.
But the fact that the child was apparently overweight may also have been a contributing factor.
The official said it was rather strange that the caregiver at the centre did not check on the baby who was ‘sleeping’ for several hours.
“It is not normal for a child to sleep so long. I would think that even if a child sleeps that long an adult should at least make checks on the child.”
It was also pointed out that there is some amount of negligence on the part of the parents given the fact that they themselves stated that the two month-old weighed 18 pounds.
“That is obesity and unhealthy for that age and it will cause respiratory problems. Guyanese have this mentality that once a baby is fat or chubby he is healthy and that is wrong,” the official pointed out.
Also, in wake of this incident, the question has been raised about regulations and requirements for persons operating a day care.
This publication was told that this responsibility has been handed over to the Child Care and Protection Agency.
A source said that currently, while the Mayor and City Council has handed over the responsibility, the new regulations are being drafted up for Parliament.
In the interim, the City Council is still responsible for issuing licences for day care centres.
On Monday, last, Baquan Shepherd was discovered dead at around 16:30 hrs when his parents went to collect him and his 22-month-old brother.