Coimbatore:KG Hospital Chairman Dr G Bakthavathsalam has urged authorities to make wearing seat belts compulsory for children after his hospital saved two children who were severely injured in a car accident yesterday in Pollachi.

According to a statement, Priyanka (5) and her elder brother Mukil Raja (7) (names changed) were severely injured when their car driven by their father met with an accident last night in Pollachi. Priyanka suffered liver injury and Mukil sustained multiple fractures in the skull. The children, taken to a private hospital in Pollachi, were later referred to KG Hospital.

Bakthavathsalam said the children were treated at the Level I Trauma Care Centre of the hospital. Priyanka bled profusely and almost three-fourths of the volume of her blood got accumulated in the abdomen. “To rectify the blood loss, she was given 2 litres of blood transfusion. Mukil also underwent a surgery and both the kids are now in post-operative recovery,” Bakthavathsalam said.

He felt accidents were occurring due to bad roads, poor quality of vehicles, not observing traffic rules like wearing helmets and using seat belts and also due to the slackness of police personnel in enforcing the traffic rules.

He stressed it should be mandatory for children also to wear seat belts while travelling, or else at the time of mishaps they would tumble or would be tossed around, resulting in serious injuries. In the US, children invariably used seatbelts.