THE Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development will make it compulsory for nursery operators to contact parents if their child is absent to prevent the accidental deaths of children left in cars. 

Its Minister Nancy Shukri said the standard operating procedure (SOP) in such matters needed to be updated following recent cases of parents forgetting to drop off their children at daycare centres. 

“If parents cannot be reached, nurseries should have an (additional) emergency contact number to allow them to get in touch with other family members. 

“However, there are certain things I cannot do because it falls under a different ministry. For example, people say no more tinted screens. That is not under me, and I can only attend to matters under my ministry’s purview,” she said. 

Nancy stressed that enforcing the SOP could, at the very least, reduce the time children were left in cars, thereby minimising risks to their lives. 

She added that three cases of child deaths in cars had been reported to date. – Bernama, November 13, 2023.