Nursery, childcare centre sealed for 21 days

Posted on January 27, 2012, Friday

SHAH ALAM: A nursery and a childcare centre in Taman Permata, Ampang where two infants died after consuming milk on Jan 19, have been sealed off for 21 days from yesterday to enable the Welfare Services Department to conduct investigations.

Selangor Welfare Sevices Department director Nik Omar Nik Ab Rahman said the nursery was registered under the department in December last year but a childcare centre adjacent to it where the two babies died was found to be operating without a licence.

“The childcare centre, which was opened recently by the nursery for children under four years, looked after 13 children, including the two babies. Ironically, it has only one fulltime child minder,” he told a news conference here yesterday.

Last Thursday, seven-month-old Ariff Amsyar Ruhi Budiman and three-month-old Muzaffar Mohd Faizal died believed to be due to chocking on milk at the nursery.

Nik Omar said the nursery did not meet standards set under Section 8 of the Child Care Centre Act 1984 for it did not have enough child minders, approval from technical agencies, activities that stimulate child development, suitable furniture and toys besides poor maintenance.

Meanwhile, another nursery in Section 8 here was served with a notice to cease operation for operating without a licence following a complaint that a baby under its care was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital after a fall.

The operator of the nursery created an uproar when the notice was served, saying that she was not at fault and instead she was victimised by her own worker, who was the mother of the child.

The operator said she had lodged a police report.

Nik Omar said the closure of the nursery was to enable investigations to be carried out.

He advised parents to be mindful when selecting nurseries for their children for there were more than 1,000 unregistered nurseries in Selangor. — Bernama

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