Child hospitalized after playing with rat poison at daycare

The incident occurred around noon on June 29 at a private kindergarten in Gölcük. According to the allegations, a rat poison station located in the area where children play was taken from its place by another child and brought to L. (5), who was sitting on the ground. It is claimed that L. played with the substance inside the box for about 2 minutes and told her teachers that she felt a bitter taste after putting her hand in her mouth.

Kept under observation in the hospital for 2 days

It is alleged that the staff who noticed the situation washed the child's hands and mouth and then fed her yogurt as a precaution. The family, who were informed about 40 minutes after the incident, took L. from the school and brought her to a nearby private hospital. After a consultation with the Poison Information Line, the young child was admitted to the hospital and kept under observation for 2 days.

Furthermore, school officials reached by phone regarding the allegations noted that they would not make any statement for the time being because the matter has been taken to the judiciary.

"Even though they were right next to a private hospital, they fed the child yogurt"

Little L.'s father, Gürcan Yılmaz, announced that they have initiated legal proceedings regarding the matter. Explaining what happened, Gürcan Yılmaz said, "Around noon on June 29, my wife received a call from the daycare. They told my wife, 'While your child was playing in the school garden, she kicked and opened the rat stations containing poisonous substances used for pest control. She broke the poison inside and played with it for a while. She was exposed to this poison. Later, when the teachers at the daycare saw this, her hands and mouth were washed in the sink. Unfortunately, she was also fed yogurt as a precaution.' We were informed about this situation about 40 minutes after the incident. It took us about an hour to get there. During this time, when my child told her teachers that she had put her hand in her mouth and felt a bitter taste, they fed her yogurt, even though they were right next to a private hospital. Of course, this poison can cause very serious consequences in the human body due to the chemicals it contains. When I learned this, I wanted to go to the daycare immediately, pick up my child, and take her to the hospital. We received answers like 'Nothing will happen.' They said they consulted the poison company and that there would be no life-threatening danger unless she was exposed to as much poison as her body weight, meaning unless she ate it. Of course, we couldn't really listen to these consoling things. There is a life-threatening situation here," he said.

"We were admitted to the hospital that same day"

Stating that they took L. from the daycare and brought her to the hospital, Yılmaz said, "When we went to the hospital, we entered through the emergency room. When the doctors in the emergency room understood the seriousness of the situation, they immediately referred us to the polyclinic upstairs. The doctor who took care of us there, thank God, immediately called the Ministry of Health's Poison Information Line. He told us that in such cases, this is how one should react. Of course, such a reaction did not come from the school, that is, the daycare. After the consultation, we were informed by the Poison Information Line that the child needed to be placed in a 72-hour quarantine, kept in an isolated environment, that no one should touch her, and that even nurses and doctors should perform their interventions with masks and gloves. We were admitted to the hospital that same day," he said.

"The child was affected by this process and was scared"

Expressing that his daughter was kept under observation in the hospital for two days, Yılmaz said, "We received heavy preventive treatments here. We went through test and treatment processes that left very heavy marks on the child's body, both psychologically and physically. When I say heavy, the child was affected by this process and was scared. Of course, she was scared when she learned it was poison. Therefore, we were also scared. After staying in the hospital for two days and our tests came back clean, thank God, we were discharged. Our doctor told us that we should monitor her at home for one more day. After we spent that one day, we came back to the hospital and a blood test was done again. Thank God, the results of these 3 days of blood tests came back clean," he said.

"A friend takes the poison from the middle of the play area and brings it to my daughter"

Explaining that he watched the security camera footage, Yılmaz continued his words as follows:

"It is unacceptable that the necessary precautions are not taken at the school and that such serious chemical and poison-containing substances are located in the middle of the children's play area. Look, I am underlining this, in the middle of the physical education area. It is sitting there in a way that children can mistake it for a toy. This is not even a 2-square-meter, 3-square-meter area. I watched the footage. A friend takes the poison from the middle of the play area and brings it to my daughter. My daughter takes the box while sitting on the ground. What we were told was that the child kicked the poison box open. I didn't see anything like that in the footage. When I asked the officials who use these poison stations, they said that it should be under a locking mechanism. They stated that it should not even open with intervention. As human beings, we also think; what is poison doing in a children's play area? I also conveyed this to the school officials. I asked, 'If you are putting it there, why don't you take a preventive measure on it? How can children access this? How can they take it and open it and come into contact with the poisonous substance?' This takes 2-3 minutes. The child plays with that poison for about 2-2.5 minutes. Her teacher is dealing with another child at the head of the play area. Later, when another teacher notices this, they take her and go to wash her hands. The authorized person who takes her to wash her hands, I don't know what their duty is in that institution anymore, leaves the child in the sink. The child is left alone in the sink for 5-10 seconds. During that time, she puts her hand in her mouth and tells her teacher that she got a bitter taste. Then they feed her yogurt."

"Such a practice shocked us"

Criticizing the intervention applied at the kindergarten, Yılmaz said, "Taking such haphazard measures and acting so unseriously in such an institution where we entrust our children, where we entrust our defenseless children, really shocked us. I can't even call this a precaution. It is unacceptable to have such a practice. They declared the teacher guilty in this incident. They gave us the answer, 'The teacher was responsible for that place.' They stated that the poison company told them that the poison had to be there, and that they did not intervene. From an educator's point of view, they didn't think that the poison couldn't be there. We passed the educator, they couldn't even think from a mother-father point of view that the poison shouldn't be there. It was a very difficult process for us. Honestly, we lived with the fear that something would happen to our child every minute. They met with us once or twice during this process. They said they were very sorry, very upset, and that such an incident should not have happened. However, the lack of precaution and unseriousness experienced here saddened us very much in such an educational institution," he expressed.

"The fact that this incident happened 2-3 days before our child's birthday deeply saddened us"

Explaining that samples were taken from the kindergarten by the relevant teams for examination after the incident, Gürcan Yılmaz stated that they would closely follow the judicial process. Stating that they also filed a complaint with CİMER and the District Directorate of National Education regarding the school in question, Yılmaz expressed that they experienced great fear days before his daughter's birthday.

Yılmaz concluded his words as follows:

"The fact that such a thing happened 2-3 days before our child's birthday, while we were making birthday preparations, really saddened us deeply. It also saddened our child very much. All our plans were canceled. Our child's school process was canceled. Our work was interrupted. Despite her young age, our child went through those difficult test processes. She felt a little scared when she saw the medicines she took. Of course, we were also scared. We will wait for the test result, or rather the forensic result. I hope the process will be beneficial for both sides. It was a big lesson for us. From now on, we decided to research such precautions better in the school where we will enroll our child. I recommend this to all parents here. Let them really research the teachers' educational status, whether they are vocational high school graduates or academic graduates, the school's occupational safety conditions, the precautions it takes, and the seriousness of its health measures very well."