Department of Pediatrics, University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi, India.
Email: [email protected]
  

With the successful implementation of ‘Delhi: A Kerosene-Free City Scheme, 2012’, Delhi was declared the first ‘kerosene-free city’ in the country on June 17, 2014. The step is intended to "improve environment conservation as no toxic fumes would emanate from burning the oil, lesser possibility of adulteration in petrol, beneficial impact on air pollution and improvement in the quality of life of people benefited under the scheme besides lesser fire accidents and burn injuries" [1]. We, the pediatricians welcome this step by the Delhi government the most. Despite being a polluting fuel, use of kerosene oil continued for household cooking purposes and children kept on ingesting it out of curiosity, resulting in a significant morbidity and number of hospitalization in this age group.

While conducting a study among 1663 children aged 6 mo-5 y admitted to a tertiary care hospital catering to urban slum population, to find the relation between mid-upper arm circumference and mortality, between March 2012 and February 2013; our attention was drawn to 91 children admitted with poisoning. Of these, kerosene oil ingestion was the single most common accidental poisoning, observed in 34 (37.4%) children. More than two decades back, in this same population, we reported 70 cases of kerosene oil poisoning in children during a 3 year period. These cases constituted 46.4% of total admissions due to accidental poisoning in children between 1988 to 1990 when there was shortage of electricity and cooking gas [2]. It appears that the scenario has hardly changed over a quarter of a century.

Similar reports are available from other parts of the country. Rathore, et al. [3] observed that kerosene oil ingestion was commonest accidental poisoning seen in 31% children in a tertiary care hospital in Lucknow. Bhat, et al.[4] reported 22 children with kerosene oil poisoning (18.8% of accidental poisoning cases) in 2011. Vasavada, et al. [5] from Ahmedabad, Gujarat documented 83 children with kerosene oil poisoning, constituting 47.1% of the total cases with accidental poisoning.

We hope that following Kerosene-free Delhi Scheme, the menace of kerosene poisoning will ultimately cease and bring relief to the affected children and their families, and the treating doctors. A laudable initiative indeed, the kerosene-free scheme needs to be extended to the entire nation to eliminate kerosene oil poisoning, the most common cause of accidental poisoning in children.

1. Delhi becomes first kerosene-free city in India. India Today. June 18, 2014. Available from: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/delhi-becomes-first-kerosene-free-city-in-india/1/367204.html. Accessed July 8, 2014.

2. Gupta P, Singh RP, Murali MV, Bhargava SK, Sharma P. Kerosene oil poisoning-A childhood menace. Indian Pediatr. 1992;29:979-84.

3. Rathore S, Verma AK, Pandey A, Kumar S. Pediatric poisoning trend in Lucknow district, India. J Forensic Res. 2013;4:179.

4. Bhat NK, Dhar M, Ahmad S, Chandar V. Profile of poisoning in children and adolescents at a North Indian tertiary care centre. JIACM. 2011;13:37-42.