RPMC Hospital To Require Child Seats For Newborns Before Discharge

The Rampai Puteri Medical Centre in Setapak is implementing a policy that all newborn babies delivered at the hospital must use child seats upon discharge. Coinciding with the implementation of this policy, the hospital is launching the ‘Buckle Up, Baby!’ Campaign on 1 Nov 2017.

The campaign will run the entire month of November and free child safety seats will be given to all newborns delivered at the hospital during that period to ensure a safe trip home.

To ensure the campaign’s success, RPMC is collaborating with the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) as co-organizer to implement the campaign and to provide technical expertise on the correct usage of child safety seats.

The campaign seeks to not only instill awareness on the importance of using child safety seats on the move, but also to inculcate good riding behaviour while travelling in vehicles in general – fastening of seat belts for all passengers for example.

Despite regular campaigns by various parties, the importance of child safety seats for babies and younger children continue to be underestimated by the general public, with many parents failing to buckle their young ones up in their cars.

A study by MIROS found that children transported in private vehicles make up 43.8% of deaths among children between ages one and four, and 30.2% in the 5-9-year-old age group.