Arbitrary treatment of Child’s cold

Written by: Muhammad Arif Rahimi

The common cold is a viral infection of the nose and throat. Many types of viruses could cause a common cold. Children infect more with colds than others and some parents’ arbitrary treatment might cause some crucial health problems to their children. 

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some people and a physician about the risks of arbitrary treatment of child's cold.

Bahador, a resident Sayedabad district, Maidan-Wardak province says, “My daughter and son were infected with cold. I had some cold medicines at home and when I gave those medicines to them ad caused them vomiting, and headache and some red spots appeared on their body. I took them to a doctor. The doctor said that they are allergic to some medicines and he prescribed them some other medicines.”

A girl, a resident of Kabul city who doesn’t want to introduce herself says, “Once my nephew was suffering from cold. We purchase cold syrup from a medical store and after taking the syrup, he got dizzy and after a few minutes, he vomited too much.”

Doctor Farid Ahmad Rahmani, a pediatrician at one of the hospitals in Kabul city says, “arbitrary medication in children during could cause a variety of health problems, such as redness and itching of the skin, pimples, skin rashes, disabilities, headaches, dizziness, lethargy, weakness, and if the amount of medication is high, it can even cause the death of the child.”

What do some people think about arbitrary medication risks?

Abdul Hadi Rahmani, a resident of Kabul city says, “Those who give arbitrary medicines for the treatment of child’s cold, they might not know about the dose of medicines because medicines are prescribed according to the age of the patients.”

Bahador says, “As the medicines were not prescribed by the doctor and we do not know the dose and amount of the medicines, therefore our medication caused problems to my children.”