UAE: 13 kids hospitalised after swallowing button batteries, magnetic ball toys in 2022

UAE: 13 kids hospitalised after swallowing button batteries, magnetic ball toys in 2022

Doctors urge parents to look out for certain symptoms if the suspect their child has ingested a battery

Published: Wed 6 Jul 2022, 1:52 PM

Swallowing button batteries could kill your child, experts at Al Jalila Hospital in Dubai warn after an alarming increase in the number of kids being hospitalised for button battery ingestion (BBI).

Thirteen children have been admitted to the hospital in the first half of this year alone, needing an endoscopy for swallowing button batteries and magnetic ball toys, compared to 16 cases in the whole of 2021.

Button batteries are small coin-shaped batteries that can be found in electronic devices, such as remote controls, calculators, LED lights, watches and key fobs. The shiny surface of the battery can be very appealing for a child to play with and cause accidents.

In December last year, the hospital witnessed the death of an 18-month-old who had swallowed a tiny battery.

"The chemicals in the button batteries can burn holes through the oesophagus of a child, especially a young one, because their windpipe is so small, causing them to bleed to death," said Dr Christos Tzivinikos, head of Paediatric Gastroenterology at Al Jalila Hospital.

"The child that was brought to us too late. Nobody realised