Compulsory for nursery owners to contact parents of absent children

Women, family and community development minister Nancy Shukri said the revised SOP can, at the very least, reduce the time children are left in cars and minimise the risk of death. (Freepik pic)

KUCHING: The women, family and community development ministry will make it compulsory for nursery owners to contact the parents of absent children to prevent accidental deaths of toddlers left in cars.

Its minister, Nancy Shukri, said the SOPs need to be updated following recent cases of parents forgetting to drop off their children at daycare facilities.

“If the parents cannot be reached, the nurseries should have an (additional) emergency contact number to allow them to get in touch with other members of the family,” she told reporters after the Sarawak Media Night event here yesterday.

“However, there are certain things I cannot do because it is the responsibility of a different ministry.

“For example, people say no more tinted screens. That is not my call.”

Nancy said enforcing the SOP can, at the very least, reduce the time children are left in cars and minimise the risk of death.

She said three cases of children dying in cars have been reported since October.

On Nov 9, a two-year-old girl died after she was left in a vehicle for eight hours in Ara Damansara.

Two similar incidents were reported last month, with one involving a 16-month-old girl in Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, and the other an eight-month-old girl in Cheras, Selangor.